.…..Accuse Governor Of Financial Strangulation
If reports reaching the news desk of HardReporters is anything to go by, then the Delta state Commissioner for Finance, Mr. David Edevbie is regretting for accepting to serve as a commissioner under the governor Ifeanyi Okowa led administration.
HardReporters can authoritatively report also that local government council chairmen across the twenty-five councils in the state are currently lamenting and unhappy with governor Okowa for arm twisting them and take away from them collections of certain revenues due the councils and handed over to consultants in Lagos.
Confiding in HardReporters, a council chairman who pleaded for anonymity disclosed that governor Okowa has killed the local government system in the state adding that the governor was elected to amass wealth.
“The governor does not mean well for the people. In the past, councils were executing projects through their internally generated revenues but since the coming of Okowa, the system just went dead. How can the governor take away from us collections of revenue in our councils, which is our rights to collect ourselves. My sister I must say here that financially, the governor is strangulating us. Delta state ALGON is not helping matters, its very unfortunate.
“After taking away from us, he ceded the collections to consultants in Lagos without remittance of our percentage to us the councils. Okowa is wicked and this is not what Deltans bargained for at all. Okowa and these consultants for over two years now have been sharing the proceeds from the revenue collections.” the council chairman lamented.
Following the ceding of revenue collections in the councils and the Delta state internal revenue board to consultants by governor Okowa, the state finance commissioner, Mr. David Edevbie, HardReporters reliably gathered has continued to lament and regret taking the commissioner job from the governor.
The commissioner, it was learnt preferred taking up consultancy job than been a commissioner because according to him, everything concerning revenues in the state and his ministry has been contacted out to consultants.
“Our boss is just a figure headed finance commissioner in this good for nothing Okowa government. How can everything concerning revenues across the state will be given to consultants.? Go to the state revenue board you will be surprised that all collections, both taxes are been collected by consultants. Deltans actually made a wrong choice my sister I must confess to you. My boss has threatened to resign severally but former governor James Ibori and others have continued to press him down.
“Do you know that what Okowa is doing is illegal.? Because its against the law to cede government revenue collections to private individuals which is consultants. A Warri high court sitting in Warri few months ago frowned at it and went ahead to declare that its illegal for the governor to cede collections of revenue to consultants. Okowa younger brother, Solomon Okowa is among the consultants collecting revenue for the state till date.” an aide to the commissioner lamented.
Sources at the ministry of finance told HardReporters correspondent, that till date the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. David Edevbie and his counterpart in the Ministry of Economic Planning, Mr. Kingsley Emu are still having supremacy battle.
Our sources disclosed that governor Okowa has placed the Economic planning commissioner above his finance counterpart as well as ceding some Edevbie’s privileges and rights to Emu who happens to be a boy and kinsman to Okowa.
