ZIK GBEMRE FROWNS AT ATIKU/OKOWA CAMPAIGN VEHICLES WITH DELTA STATE FUNDS AS ANOTHER ILLEGALITY
• Any politician that is comfortable in spending taxpayer’s money with reckless abandon and impunity in their political campaign ambition, that politician does not have, and will not have good intentions for the Nigerian people if they find their way into Government…
I have said it times without number that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s PDP administration in Delta State, remains a disaster and the most unfortunate, misfortune that has beheld the state in the last 8 years because it will remain so till May 2023 when the administration will expire.
I do not want to bore you again with the sad tales of some of the obnoxious and unfortunate activities of the Okowa’s led administration that have made it best tagged as a disaster, but I believe some of us must have seen a short video that was in circulation online – showing the dilapidated and unkempt building of the Delta State Liaison Office Asokoro District on the one side, and a fleet of Brand new JET Mover Buses all packed in every corner of the said Office compound.
And the person who recorded the video was heard complaining bitterly about how they (referring to the Okowa administration), apparently preferred to spend hundreds of millions of Naira to purchase the said new Buses, as against the renovation of the Delta State Government Liaison Office building. One of the said Buses is said to cost as much as N62 million. Multiply that by the number of Buses which we believe is over 50 that is taxpayer’s money that ought to add value to the lives of Deltans. And the said Brand new Buses are just one set of purchased vehicles that they are planning to use for their Atiku/Okowa campaign. There are many of such purchased vehicles, which we would see being driven in Delta State and across the nation for the said Atiku/Okowa Presidential campaign. The question is, is this how campaigns are supposed to be run? Why such highly misplaced priorities? What then happens to these vehicles after the campaigns are over?
Truth is, any politician that is comfortable in spending taxpayer’s money with reckless abandon and impunity in their political campaign ambition, that politician does not have, and will not have good intentions for the Nigerian people if they find their way into government. We have seen this play out severally in the Nigerian political space. Because if they can disrespect the law that prohibits the use of official public resources for political campaigns/pursuits, then they can do and undo the people if they are allowed to come into government.
Former Delta State Governor and ex-convict, James Ibori, did not lay a good developmental foundation in Delta State before he left office, and paved the way for his cousin, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who inherited his bad leadership and continued from where Ibori stopped. Uduaghan then passed it over to Okowa, who is currently rated as the worst governor in the history of Delta State since 1999. Agreed that Ibori grossly looted Delta State public funds, which landed him in a UK prison, but he completed a few projects here and there despite his shortcomings. But what exactly can we say, or the pass mark we can give Okowa’s government? They call him the “Road Master”, but the State’s road networks have been this bad since I can remember. It is only in Delta State that we see quacks and unprofessional who are supporters of the Okowa government, using Wheelbarrows and cement to maintain roads.
As noted by Pius Ogbeni, a former Shell Staff: “My brother I agree with you. If Governor Wike can use Julius Berger to work on State and Federal government roads, what stops Delta State from doing the same? Warri Sapele road was impassable in 2020, and the Federal government gave Edo and Delta States N1bn naira each to do emergency maintenance. But the Delta State governor gave federal road maintenance to John Oguma to construct. He collected mobilisation fees and left for London on holiday. The government was so embarrassed that they had to bring in Nigercat to save the situation. The repairs didn’t last three months, and it went bad again. Hence, Fashola stopped them.
“Our people are the problem of the Niger Delta and not Buhari. Is Okowa not collecting monthly allocations? Other governors are commissioning projects daily, but Delta state money is used for campaign vehicles. Goodluck owed so many states monthly allocations but when Buhari came he gave them bailout funds. And our state is yet to pay pensioners of 2014 to date. Wike is doing both Federal and State roads because Buhari will not one day drive through the roads.”
Michael Egi, a Nigerian commentator based in the US, also describes Okowa’s administration as “Good for nothing government of thief Okowa”.
It is worthy to note that there is the General Prohibition Against Using Official Resources for Campaign or Political Purposes. It is a general rule, according to the ethic of the National Assembly, that official resources be used for the performance of official business, and hence those resources may not be used for campaign or political purposes. The laws and rules referenced in this section reflect “the basic principle that government funds should not be spent to help incumbents gain reelection.” Governor Okowa, being a former Senator, and his new Oga Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, should know better.
As rightly noted by Dr. Emmanuel Ojameruaye: “The issue here is not the renovation of the dilapidated Delta State government liaison office in Abuja, but the legality of using state funds to acquire buses for a political party or the campaign.
In the US and other democracies, it is illegal to use official resources including state funds, offices, vehicles, etc for a political campaign or other political purposes. I would assume that the same applies to Nigeria, even though our law enforcement agencies are either unaware or have conveniently refused to enforce the law. Where is the EFCC?
“When Atiku decided to make the Delta State governor his running mate, I raised an alarm that a critical factor in that decision was his eye on using Delta state resources to fund the campaign. Now the chicken has come home to roast. Somebody has to force the EFCC to act or go to court to challenge the acquisition of these vehicles for the campaign and have them impounded.
“Such acts are contrary to the tenets of democracy and confer an undue advantage to Incumbents in addition to fanning corruption and waste. Illegality and bad governance are thriving in Nigeria because those who are supposed to act are docile, and are not challenging wrongdoing. If the US President uses his official aircraft for campaign or political purposes, he is surcharged. No governor can use state resources for any campaign or political purpose. If we want to practice democracy, let us do it well.
“As for the liaison office, it is a waste of state resources. It should be auctioned. There are hotels in Abuja that the governor and state officials can use when they go to Abuja for state business. State governments in the US do not have liaison office buildings in Washington DC. Our legislators should be tasked to do some of the liaison work in Abuja to justify their fat pay.”
If I am not mistaken, I think it is only the former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, who stopped the use of the Anambra State Liaison office in Abuja because according to him, it is a waste of public funds to maintain such offices that are far away from the State he was governing then. It is this sort of waste that every Nigerian politician should thrive to avoid, and channel the public resources to something else within their States.
Another comment from Chief Sam Odibo, Otota of Udu kingdom, stated that: “It is this type of pros and cons that makes many people not to want to support state police. There are those governors that will abuse it so badly; so terribly so that the state police will become their weapon of terror within their States.
“Allow the States to repair the federal government roads in their States and you will have only Oguma Ltd working on our roads; not even Nigercat, not to mention Julius Berger. Many of our roads will not last one season. Go to the former Elf petrol station roundabout on Okumagba Avenue Warri and you will see “The Road Master” using a wheelbarrow to maintain a roundabout that is ever busy with heavy vehicular traffic…”
The truth is, Okowa’s last minutes’ looting is the reason why he desperately wants to replace himself with Sheriff, as they use State money to fund Atiku’s presidential campaign, which will give him protection under impunity if elected vice president. Okowa is not only a disaster but also a disgrace to the medical profession.
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