Essential Ndubuisi
Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, on Wednesday says the state government has not received the £4.2m seized from its former state governor, Chief James Ibori and returned by the British Government to Nigeria.
The governor spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olisa Ifeajika, while reacting to claims by the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, that the repatriated money has been returned to Delta.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Idris, had told members of Ad hoc Committee on Recovered Assets of the House of Representatives on Tuesday that the Federal Government had already returned the money to the state.
But Okowa explained that although the government was aware of Mr. Idris’s claim, the money has not hit the state account.
He assured that the state government was in contact with the Federal Government, especially the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, on the issue.
The statement partly reads, “It expressed appreciation for the disposition of the Federal Government in releasing the funds to the state, and assured that it would acknowledge receipt of the funds when it arrives.
“The government also assured the Federal Government and Deltans that the funds would, in tandem with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration’s hallmark, be judiciously deployed especially in the completion of projects it had earlier intimated the Presidency about.”
