The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has withheld the international passport of the former governor of Delta State, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa.
On November 4, 2024, the anti-graft agency arrested Okowa for allegedly diverting N1.3tn from oil derivation funds.
From 2015 to 2023, the N1.3 trillion represented 13% derivation money from the federation account.
He was also accused of failing to account for the cash, as well as another N40 billion that he reportedly used to buy shares in UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas.
Okowa also allegedly purchased N40 billion in shares of one of the country’s main banks, representing 8% equity in the offshore LNG project.
According to sources in the EFCC, Okowa was at the EFCC office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when he was arrested by commission officials.
According to a source familiar with the situation who was not authorised to speak with the press, Okowa was released on bail last Wednesday after meeting his conditions.
According to the source, one of the requirements was that he submit his travel documents to the agency until the outcome of the investigation.
“Okowa is no longer in our custody. He was released last Wednesday after meeting his bail conditions, which include depositing his travel documents with the commission, pending the conclusion of our investigations of the allegations against him.
“The sum allegedly is too huge to take risks. And what we have done is not out of place. This is to prevent anyone under investigation from jumping the bail he/she had been granted,” he said.
However, the EFCC’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, had yet to comment on the recent developments concerning Okowa’s case.
Speaking on his arrest, Okowa dismissed allegations of misappropriation of N1.3 trillion in oil derivation funds as laughable and false.
On Tuesday, he received the national leadership of the Urhobo Progress Union, led by President General Chief Ese Owe, for a solidarity visit at his residence in Asaba. Okowa expressed no worries about the EFCC invitation.
In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Olisa Ifejika, the former governor stated that the petitioners were motivated by political considerations, but he remains committed to supporting Governor Sheriff Oborevwori in carrying out the mandate given to him.
“It was a petition written several months ago, but unfortunately, with the politics of our time, some people decided to ensure that Okowa must be invited by the EFCC.
“People are genuinely uncomfortable about Okowa, and I was actually invited, and I went there by myself, and the first thing I saw was that they said I misappropriated N1.3tn. I said, Do you know the kind of money you are talking about?
“To successfully take N1.3tn, it means you have to be taking between N16bn and N20bn every month into your pocket. I don’t even know if the president of this country will be able to do that, not to mention the governor of Delta State.
“They have forgotten that the first three years we came into office—2015, 2016, and 2017—the money that was coming into the state was not even enough to pay salaries at all.
“Some local governments like Ethiope East were owing as much as 15 months salaries, and even in the state here, some people were getting half salaries.
“Delta State is the highest salary-paying state in this nation; our salaries grew to the level that salaries and pensions went up to over N11bn in a month.
“There are some states whose total staff strength is less than 18,000, but here in Delta, we have over 56,000 workers,” he said.
