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Politics of Saturday, 7 January 2023

Source: www.premiumtimesng.com

2023: Omo-Agege accuses Okowa of sponsoring Atiku’s campaign with state funds

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, Ovie Omo-Agege has accused Delta State governor of using state funds to sponsor the presidential campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Omo-Agege who is the deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, stated this on Thursday while addressing journalists after a close-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is the running mate to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Omo-Agege said the “infrastructural decay” in the state could have been tackled “If the bulk of the money that the current governor devoted to the funding of the Atiku/Okowa Campaign for President,” was channeled in that direction.

The APC candidate said Mr Okowa has received about N4.2 trillion as federal allocation.

He lamented that the riverine areas in the state lack hospitals despite the fact that the last two governors of the state are medical doctors.

“I believe we can do better. We’re a rich state. We have enough resources. Our roads, schools, and hospitals are in a serious state of decay.”

Mr Omo-Agege said he would focus on building infrastructure in the state if he elected.

He promised to engage the services of reputable companies to handle major road projects in the state and to also provide incentives to bring back companies who left the state because of insecurity.

“We want to address the health sector, we want to address the education sector, if you go to most of the tertiary institutions we have in the state, there are even state’s tertiary institutions that are basically being run by Tertiary Education Trust Fund, some of them are like glorified secondary schools,” he said.

Delta government reacts

The Delta State Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, dismissed as incorrect the allegation that Governor Okowa has put state funds into the PDP presidential campaign.

He challenged Mr Omo-Agege to provide evidence.

Mr Aniagwu who said only federal roads were in bad shape in the state blamed it on “poor representation” by Mr Omo-Agege in the Senate.

He also dismissed as false Mr Omo-Agege’s allegation of lack of hospitals in the riverine areas of Delta State.

He said Mr Okowa has built hospitals in the riverine areas – one of them, he said, is located in the heart of the creeks close to the Atlantic Ocean.

“He (Mr Omo-Agege) just came back from abroad. Ask him where he did his Christmas and New Year. He ran away from this country and came back two days ago. As soon as he came back he went to the (Aso Rock) Villa and said things that are not true,” Mr Aniagwu said.

The commissioner said it is not true that Mr Okowa’s administration has gotten N4 trillion as federal allocations since 2015.