News, Society

Okowa Denies Cousin Involved In N350 Million Scandal

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has denied Mr. D. O. Nwachukwu, his alleged cousin who is involved in a N350 million scandal.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

The governor during a quarterly press briefing recently, disowned the auctioneer… “The auctioneer is never my cousin and I shall look into all the allegations raised concerning the exercise.”

Mr. D. O. Nwachukwu, Mr. Festus Ovie Agas, Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and Mr. Jaho Adams, Secretary, Board of Survey on Unserviceable Assets are involved in the ongoing auction of unserviceable assets in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state.

We gathered that following the decision to dispose the unserviceable government assets, the governor appointed Mr.  D. O Nwachukwu, founder of Nwachukwu Auctioneering Services to handle the disposal of the items. These include vehicles, power generating plants, hospital equipment, electrical appliances, computers, furniture, beds, generators, Marcopolo buses and machinery across the state.

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Sources said that they allegedly duped interested buyers as they have paid for items, which have not been delivered to them.

“I don’t know why the anti-graft agencies find it difficult to succeed in the fight against corruption in Delta State. If you are looking for where the tap root of corruption is, come to Delta state. What surprises me most is the way the auctioneer is busy allocating items to the governor’s relations and cronies from the Delta North area of the state without payment.”

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We gathered that buyers paid N15 million for items that were not released to them. Others paid sums ranging between N2 and N20 million into a private Zenith Bank account bearing Afam Dynasty Limited (account number 1015329614), operated by one Mr. Afam Adingupu, Operations Manager of Nwachukwu Auctioneering Services.

Buyers disclosed that instead of issuing the official receipts reflecting the true amounts paid for the items, the board, in connivance with the auctioneer, has been issuing receipts reflecting N150,000. This is what is expected to be paid into the government coffers through the Board of Survey on Unserviceable Assets account (0066875580) at Sterling Bank.

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“They fraudulently collected over a million naira for each 100 or 150 KVA generating plants from buyers. Some buyers got between three and seven generators for over a million naira each, but were issued receipts showing N150,000 was issued. Meanwhile, you are directed to pay the millions of naira into the private account of Mr. Adingupu.”