Delta Govt vs Dino Melaye: Ogeah, Okpara, Agbele To Defend Alleged N9bn Excess Crude Fraud

Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of oil & gas rich Delta state

In a bid to defend and clear grey issues raised by Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption whistle-blower and former member of the House of Representatives, Otunba Dino Melaye over alleged mismanagement of a whooping N9 Billion Excess Crude funds released to Delta state in December 2012, the Delta State Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah Esq. and his Ministry of Finance counterpart, Mr. Ken Okpara, alongside the Accountant-General of the state, Mr. Cyril Agbele, will on Monday, March 31, 2014 address a special press conference on recent media reports associated with the finances of the State Government.

Despite prompt reactions by Delta State Government through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Comrade Ovuozorie Macaulay, Dino Melaye has insisted that the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan led administration misappropriated the said fund.

A statement by State Director of Information, Mr Paul Osahor indicated that the event will hold at the conference hall of the Ministry of Information, Asaba at 1p.m prompt.

The statement, made available to Blank NEWS Online on Thursday, March 27, 2014, advised Journalists in the State especially those residing in Asaba to attend the conference and to be seated at the venue by 12:30p.m.

It could be recalled that in a reacting to a press Hon. Dino Melaye’s claims, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Comrade Ovuozorie Macaulay posited that every fund accruing to the state could be accounted since the money was expended within due process.

The SSG’s statement revealed that although the allocation from the Federation has recently dwindled, the excess Crude referred to by Dino Melaye came in two tranches of N1,090,380,894.61 and N8,348,064,864.52 on 10th December, 2012.

According to him, N9b was used to offset some urgent commitments, just as the state government remains indebted to contractors and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to the tune of N22,677,938,653.12, earmarked for mainly capital projects.

While challenging the claims, Delta state government asserted that “We urge Hon Melaye to properly investigate whatever information they get before coming out with allegations that are frivolous.”