By Sunday Egede
The immediate past governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has said the recent invitation to him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has rather than weakened him, stimulated his political consciousness.
He disclosed this while playing host to kinsmen and members of Owa-Alero Development Union, who paid him a solidarity visit at his residence in Asaba.
The former governor thanked his people for the visit and said that there was no cause for alarm about his invitation by the EFCC.
He said that he had been strengthened by the number of persons and groups that had been visiting to identify with him, and assured that truth would prevail.
“The frivolous allegation against me has, indeed, reawakened my political consciousness as different groups have been visiting me since l returned from honouring EFCC’s invitation.
“It is of God, not me, because God knows why He allowed what happened to happen. What the enemy thought was for evil, God has turned it around.
“When l look retrospectively at the situation of Delta State in 2015 when l assumed office as Governor and compare it to the situation in 2023 when l handed over, l give God the glory.
“We may not have done the same thing everywhere, but l know that there was nowhere in the state that we didn’t touch.
“If l look at how Asaba and Okpanam were in 2015 and how they now look, l will give God the glory. With what we have done with the storm water drainage in Asaba, today, Asaba is now like a special place.
“Apart from Asaba, we did a lot in many communities in the riverine areas and other parts of the state,” he said.
Okowa recalled that when he assumed office as governor, “we were number four in oil production and by the end of 2018, we climbed to number one, and we are still number one till today, because of the peace process we adopted.
“This development didn’t just happen like that; it was because of the fact that the people saw hope in what we were doing.
“So, people will talk, but in our conscience, we know we have done well, and we put out the communication about the audited accounts of the state government every year. The summary of the record is there in the public domain
“Nobody has been able to contradict the statement we put out because it is simple and it is from the audited accounts. It is just foolishness that people will go and peddle rumour.
“However, we anticipated this because it is politics. The EFCC people could not see any fictitious contract when they came for investigation. We were very meticulous because we came to work for our Deltans.”
While lauding the Owa-Alero people for being able to organise themselves in a peaceful manner, Okowa appealed to them to continue to work together to sustain the peace and unity in the community in particular and the state at large.
Earlier, the leader of Owa-Alero Development Union, Mr Chris Eboh, had told the former governor that they were in his house for a solidarity visit over his ill-conceived invitation by the EFCC, assuring him that they were solidly behind him.
“We are quite convinced that you have done nothing wrong in the course of your stewardship as the governor of the state that warrants your invitation by the EFCC.
“We are not perturbed at all about the EFCC’s invitation which you honourably honoured because we know that you performed excellently while serving as governor of the state,” he said.
