And he has a defense – some people just hate him
Here are the details
Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has denied allegations by a
group who accused him of embezzling over N200bn which was appropriated to the
Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
The group,
under the aegis of Delta Youths for Good Governance and Anti-Corruption and
Integrity Forum led by Comrade Prince Kpokpogri, had alleged that the Governor
had embezzled the fund and was speeding up plans to scrap the commission before
leaving office on May 29, 2015.
The group,
which has membership sprawling over 200, besieged the Delta State House of
Assembly calling for a halt to the bill, also indicted Speaker of the House,
Rt. Hon. Peter Onwusanya, saying he connived with the Governor to borrow N40bn
bond which was allegedly approved by the Speaker on behalf of members.
But Governor Uduaghan, speaking through his
Communications Manager, Paul Odili, said the allegations were false and
mischievous, just as he described the group as a group with ulterior motive to
tarnish Uduaghan’s image in the state.
Odili said “people are just heaping all kinds of
allegations against the person of the Governor”, adding “how can the governor
take such huge amount of money? It is cheap blackmail because the governor has
the interest of Deltans at heart and he cannot do that. That allegation is
ridiculous and from an ignorant mind”.
On the issue of a bill which was purportedly
aimed at hastily scrapping the commission as a way of cover up, Odili said the
Governor never sent a bill to the State House of Assembly to scrap DESOPADEC,
but the bill the governor sent was to reform and strengthen the commission.
He said the outgoing Governor’s intention is to
reform the commission so that it will benefit Deltans more than ever before,
saying “some persons deliberately hate the governor for no justcause, not many
people want change. They are just trying to create confusion for the governor
and the state”.
He added that it would be on record that the
governor attempted reforming the commission but a group of disgruntled elements
fought against the good move of the governor.
Political Economist
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