Delta State All Progressives Congres
*Blames PDP for two decades of waste
By Victor Lewis
As Delta attains 33 years of statehood, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has taken a swipe at the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP that has held the State in the jugular for more than two decades.
Reflecting on the two and half decades of the PDP leadership in the State, the Publicity Secretary of the APC, Barr. Valentine Onojeghuo, has described the period as that of a wasted opportunities, adding that this is no time for popping champagne, rather it is time to be sober.
Onojeghuo who addressed the press in Asaba as a prelude to the 33rd anniversary of Delta State, reminded Deltans that it is time for sober reflection, adding that every Deltan must take a critical look at the rate of growth and development of the State over the past more than two decades and make holistic comparison between Delta and other states in the country.
According to the party publicity scribe, Deltans should wake up from their slumber, sit back and take a serious look at the quantum of revenue that have rolled into the state since 1999 till date and compare same with the level of development that has taken place under the PDP leadership.
He lamented that while the State keeps taking the lead in revenue allocations, it consistently and conversely occupies the last position in terms of development among the comity of states in the country.
Onojeghuo blamed the PDP as a party and the various governors the party has fielded in the leadership of the state for their ineptitude, inexperience and bad managers of resources, adding that the party has continued to hold the State down by the jugular.
“Today, as the leadership of the All Progressives Congress State joins millions of Deltans to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the creation of our dear State, we are painfully reminded of wasted opportunities, rather than what we could have achieved as a people.
“On a sober reflection, the hopes and expectations that greeted its creation on the 27th 1991, have all but disappeared leaving a hollowed melancholic despondency with a consequential bitter taste in the mouths of Deltans.
“Undeniably, despite the fact that Delta State is among the few states richly blessed with abundant resources and more than sufficient number of highly qualified manpower needed for infrastructure and human capital development that ultimately drives economic growth, the State has woefully failed to live up to its desired aspirations due to persistent mismanagement of its oil gotten wealth running into billions by successive PDP administrations that has governed the State since the reintroduction of elective democracy.
“Today’s celebration has tragically called into focus that despite the attendant financial gains derived from huge oil revenues, Delta State has unfortunately been cursed with a string of bad leaders at the helm of governance of the State”, Onojeghuo noted.
He recalled with regret that the PDP government in the State over the past two and half decades has continued to squeeze life out of over four million population of the State, pointing out that the maladministration and the looting of public fund got to its unenviable peak with the immediate past governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa whose administration became so infamous and notorious with the sobriquet of borrowing and stealing.
“For years, Delta State has been systematically asphyxiated by the maladministration and malfeasance perpetrated by successive PDP-led governments that reached a resounding crescendo with the administration of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who was infamously dubbed the ‘borrow borrow governor’ and the grandfather of the ‘prosperity for all’ deception that borrowed the State blind, even borrowing billions few days to the end of his administration.
“According to reports, for the eight years of his administration, Okowa received over N1.2 trillion as payment of the 13% Derivation funds with nothing to show for it. At the time of leaving office, he bequeathed a legacy of billions in debts with future unborn Deltans as potential debtors. The majority of the borrowed billions went down the drain in pursuit of his doomed vice-presidential ambition.
“Ironically, the present governor Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori who recently spoke about leaving a lasting legacy, taking a cue from his mentor and benefactor Okowa, jettisoned the ‘prosperity for all’ deception and started his administration with the M.O.R.E agenda by taking a loan of 40 billion as his first official act as governor signalling a continuation of the borrow borrow culture initiated by his predecessor in office.
“So far, his administration has been nothing but more of the same with the Effurun and Enerhen flyover projects as its only bragging rights”, he said.
The APC chieftain lambasted the PDP governors who have strangled Deltans and embezzled their common patrimony, describing them as crooks who continued to grab the State resources for their aggrandizement.
He lamented that several agencies set up to take development to the grassroots especially among the oil bearing communities, were being used as ghost shells to siphon the State resources and share among acolytes and cronies.
“For more than 20 years of its existence, Delta State has been desultorily governed by these charlatans and crooks whose stock in trade is the manipulation of the electoral playing field to seize power and unleashed an unparalleled reign of despoliation of its resources for personal aggrandizement with little or no intention of bringing meaningful development to the State.
“The State is littered with decaying infrastructures, continuous rising crime rate accompanied with high poverty levels. Imagine, a State like Delta still struggling to complete 150 km dualization of the Ughelli Asaba express way 16 years after it was flagged off by the Uduaghan administration.
“Sadly, governmental intervention agencies DESOPADEC, Delta State Waste Management Board, Asaba Capital Development Agency, Warri Uvwie and Environs Special Area Development Agency, Direct Labour etc, have become empty ghost shells for settling political acolytes and cronies with whatever budget allocations shared amongst members as compensatory payments for working for the victory of the Party at the polls”, Onojeghuo lamented.
He concluded with deep emotion, saying that “this 33rd anniversary celebration is a catalogue of woes and wasteful mismanagement of our resources by PDP led administrations. It is a shameful reminder of the missed opportunities of building a State Deltans ought to be proud of.
“But alas that is not the case as we are left with a comatose and crumbling edifice we call Delta State. Deltans truly deserve more, it is time to end bad governance in Delta State.”
He however wished Deltans a happy celebration, assuring them that hope lies ahead.
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