By Basil Okoh,
Former Delta State Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa’s recent detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over an alleged misappropriation of N1.3 trillion from DESOPADEC—a key state agency dedicated to the development of oil-producing communities—has left Deltans reeling. The staggering sum has sparked outrage and concern, as many are now reflecting on the transformative impact such funds could have had on their communities.
The alleged scale of the financial irregularities has shocked even the most financially savvy, as the figure is beyond comprehension for many citizens. The thought of a trillion-naira misappropriation in a single agency is unprecedented, sparking disbelief and fueling speculation about unchecked corruption in other major government ministries.
Notably, the oil-producing communities, which are legally entitled to DESOPADEC’s funds, have voiced their dismay. Okowa’s alleged redirection of resources meant for their development has raised questions of intent, as there is no oil production within his local government area, Ika Northeast, or his hometown, Owa-Alero. Critics are now calling it a calculated scheme to deprive these communities of their due, an alleged betrayal that they argue represents a grave injustice to the Delta people.
This controversy has raised broader concerns about the integrity and oversight of Delta State’s financial management. If proven, these allegations would spotlight a systematic exploitation of oil-producing regions, leaving many to question how state funds are being managed and demanding accountability.
To pursue and consolidate his graft scheme at the beginning of his tenure in 2015, Okowa worked to change the law setting up DESOPADEC through an executive bill to the State’s House of Assembly. It was read, deliberated on and passed in a single day and thereafter, he went about seizing control of the board of the Agency, populating it with fellow conspirators and loyal brigands. So, the actions of Ifeanyi Okowa leading up to the alleged theft of N1.3 trillion were premeditated and planned.
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Former Delta State Governor Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa[/caption]
The bill sought changes to the DESOPADEC Law to remove the term “Local government” and replace it with “communities” which in legal usage is an abstraction. He effectively removed the definitive terms for qualifications as “oil-producing” while everybody watched with disinterest, not knowing what the sly thief was up to.
Mr Chukwuyem Festus Okoh, representing Ika South Local Government Area in the House of Assembly, was the Majority Leader of the House of Assembly at the time and was Okowa’s main man in the obfuscation of the qualifying terms for oil-producing areas and the one who laid the bill for debate in the House. He was also the one who pushed every House member to pass the bill into law in three hours. So Mr. Chukwuyem Festus Okoh helped lay the groundwork for Okowa’s later plunder of Delta State through DESOPADEC.
Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa was to immediately use the changes implanted in the new law to claim part of Festus Okoh’s “Ika South” constituency as Owa land and the Flow-Station at Owa Alidinma as part of an imaginary Owa Kingdom. Festus Chukwuyem Okoh called this writer, asking leading questions about the suit I instituted challenging Okowa’s grasping rascality on Ika Southland. He expressed doubt that Owa Alidinma is part of Agbor in Ika South and I answered that he should go get a map of Delta State and locate Owa Alidinma in Ika South. He expressed surprise. Finally, he asked: “How much have you spent on this case so far?” I wouldn’t tell him and I reluctantly told him so. He then said: “I will get back to you” and ended the call. He never called back. Chukwuyem Festus Okoh is no relation to this writer.
Owa Alidinma is a community in Agbor situated at and located in Ika South. It is part of Agbor Alidinma town where migrants to Agbor Alidinma community live, a Sabon-Gari of sorts. The official map of Delta State locates Owa Alidinma as part of Agbor, lying beside Agbor Alidinma and bounded by Ndemili in Ukwuani LGA in the southwest.
Owa Alidinma is a boundary town and shares no contiguity with any Owa village which are all located in Ika Northeast, the nearest being fifteen kilometres away. But Okowa, as Governor, joined his “Obi of Owa” and, deploying his power as the new governor of the state, tried to implement a land grab and claimed that Owa Alidinma was Owa land. This was all done in an effort to include Owa as an Oil-producing “community” to meet his definition of DESOPADEC and seize control of the Oil Flow Station being built by Pan Ocean Oil Company at Owa Alidinma. He immediately appointed an Owa man as a member of the board of DESOPADEC when neither Owa nor the entire Ika Northeast produced a barrel of oil.
Owa is a generic name. It is a prefix used to identify a migrant community in many areas of Delta North. Just as you have Owa Oyibu or Owa Alero in Ika Northeast, you also have Owa Abbi in Ukwuani LGA and Owa within Alihagu in Agbor. Many “Owa” live among Bini communities along the road to Benin, Edo State. These are all migrant communities.
This writer filed a suit in the high court of Delta State challenging the nomination of an Owa man, Anselm Nwokenye, to represent Abavo and Agbor on the board of DESOPADEC. Owa community and Ika Northeast LGA do not produce oil. The second pleading was to seek the court's declaration that Owa Alidinma is an Agbor community located in Ika South Local Government, and we submitted the official map of Delta State, among other evidence, to prove it. The Obi of Owa in his application to the court for joinder in the suit, addressed himself as “the overlord of Owa Alidinma”, a dubious claim considering that he himself and his forebears were subjects of the then Obi of Agbor, the line of kings now called Dein, who were the original suzerains of the kingdom of Agbor.
Basil Okoh, Versus the Attorney General and Governor of Delta State was a case to stop Okowa from his land grab in Agbor and growing impunity as governor of Delta State. Mr Chukwuyem Festus Okoh was the Majority Leader of the Delta House of Assembly who submitted the nomination of Anselm Nwokenye from Owa in Ika Northeast as a member of the board of DESOPADEC, which was unanimously passed to make a man from a non-Oil producing Ika Northeast a member of the board of DESOPADEC, in place of a nominee from Ika South LGA. With the arrest of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa. These dubious schemes have all come to grief now but not before the loss of N1.3 trillion. Okowa had so much contempt for Agbor and its PDP politicians.
And that is how he set the formwork for the later plunder of DESOPADEC, appointing pliant brigands into the board.
The payments for the 13% derivation fund never went directly to any DESOPADEC Account but to a holding account, which was not made known to the board or staff of DESOPADEC. It was from this holding account that the sum was splintered into different accounts, and what was left was paid to DESOPADEC.
Okowa, from the beginning of his tenure as governor of Delta state, had clear ideas about what he wanted to do with DESOPADEC. The loss of N1.3 trillion is the result of that clear intention.
This is the beginning of this story.
