A press statement on the eve of Wednesday June 16th 2021, by the Publicity Secretary (Caretaker) of the major opposition party in the state (APC), Sylvester Imonina, Esq., alleged that Dr. Okowa, “collects an average of #2Billion on a monthly basis as security votes”.
This is coming days after President Muhammadu Buhari told Nigerians during an interview on Arise Television, of his encounter with two States’ Governors from the Western Part of Nigeria.
“Delta APC does not agree less with Mr. President’s position because it is an indisputable fact that the governors and council chairmen collect monies in millions and billions of naira as security votes on monthly basis.
Citing Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, APC challenged Okowa to justify security votes he has collected, saying “But it is shocking that those humongous amount of money is not used for the purpose for which he collects it. Rather, he uses the monies as his personal funds that must not be question or accounted for.
“It is an incontestable fact that the said security votes he collects on a monthly basis can conveniently and/ or to a large extent take care of buying of sophisticated electronic gadgets, functional vehicles, and weapons for security personnels to combat crime in the State, and payment of stipends to local Vigilante in Delta State.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that local Vigilante are familiar with the terrains they provide security for. That is, partnering with them can in no small measure help in tackling insecurity in the State”.
His words: “Delta APC therefore challenges the Governor to up his game in the area of protection of the lives and properties of Deltans. There should be no room for complaints of not being in charge of security.
“The Governor should spend the security votes (monies) he collects from the State treasury on every month for security related matters, as the monies are not meant for his private pocket.
“The Governor of Delta State must not, and should not put up a defence of not being in control of security personnels in the State. The reason being that whenever the Governor wants to carry out any dirty and selfish actions and/or something that is meant for his personal gains, the security personnels are not seen as attachee of only the Federal Government. Rather, the Governor sees them as partners in progress. Delta APC there state without any air of equivocation that the security High Command can work with the State Government when the needful is done in area of partnership/funding.
“While Delta APC agrees that issue of insecurity should be of concern to all and sundry, we posit that the Governor of Delta State has the primary responsibility of ensuring that the lives and properties of Deltans are protected.
