DELTA: We’ve written protest letter to Buhari over Ibori loot, says Okowa

GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa has expressed hope that the Federal Government will return the James Ibori loot it recovered from the United Kingdom to the rightful owner.

Revealing efforts made so far on the mattter, Okowa, who said he does not believe in getting the money back through litigation, said his administration has written a protest letter to President Muhammadu Buhari over the £4.2 million loot

The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had said the recovered loot should go to the national coffers and not to the treasury of Delta State.

Malami also disclosed that the loot would be used for the completion of the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan road among other projects.

But reacting to the position of the Federal Government on the recovered loot, Okowa said, “If it’s not going to be returned directly to Delta, it must be spent on projects. We have made two critical suggestions: return the money for us to apply to projects that we feel will be right”. 

He added, “But in that same letter — because we have seen the MoU signed with the British government, and we feel that we needed to approach it in this smart manner for us to be able to get the results — we have also put projects as an alternate that they can directly release the money to.”

The governor said this yesterday while featuring on a Channels Television Programme, ‘Politics Today’.

Speaking further on his administration’s efforts to recover the loot without resorting to legal action, Okowa said, “On our part, I have spoken with the attorney-general of the federation. My attorney-general went to have a meeting with him. We are working, and we are likely to come on the same page. We have written a formal letter of protest to Mr President.

“Ours is to convince the federal government to know that the money ought to return to Delta.”