By Ifeanyi Olannye
The Delta State Government has denied rumours that it had sold the state liaison office at Ikoyi, Lagos State, as alleged by an opposition party governorship candidate in the state.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, debunked the allegation on Wednesday at a press conference.
He said it was part of the opposition’s propaganda to deceive the electorate to vote for them in the March 11 Governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
He noted that it had become their stock in trade to try to smear and cast aspersion on the Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa-led government in an attempt to score some cheap political goals.
The commissioner said that Chief Sheriff Oborevwori, Governorship Candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), remained the right choice to succeed Gov. Okowa to deepen the developmental trajectory in the state.
Aniagwu described Oborevwori as a detribalised politician with clear vision of what he wanted to do for the people and one who recognised the dynamics and the ties that unite the various tribes and ethnic groups in the state.
He called on citizens and residents in Delta to join hands to support Oborevwori by voting en masse for the PDP on Saturday, March 11.
The Commissioner noted that aside the fact that the APC Governorship Candidate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege, was deploying propaganda, he had not been able to tell the people what he wanted to do for them.
“And, because the APC in the state has not been able to develop a blue print of what they intend to do, they have resorted to blackmail and raising issues that are completely at variance with reality.
“We hear that they are accusing us about selling off the state liaison office at Ikoyi, Lagos. That is far from the truth,” he said.
According to him, the state government decided to restructure and construct a 10 storey building on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement on the land space as approved by the Lagos State Government.
“The 10-storey building will house 60 luxury flats and we came to conclusion that 21 flats out of the 60 flats will be part of the state’s equity since the land belongs to us.”
Aniagwu said that on completion of the building, the state workers who currently were on rented apartments would return to occupy two of the luxury flats in the liaison office.
“The state government will then have more value for money and also take advantage of the expertise of the private developers to manage the structure.
“But, we hear individuals say, they have sold the state liaison office just because we are approaching an election.
“But, that is not the only propaganda been churned out by our brothers in the APC who believed that casting aspersion on our administration is a leeway to coming into the government house.
“You also read the last time, they put it out there that N850 billion was borrowed by the state government but the question is, borrowed from where and at what time was such money processed in the state?
“We all know that the bridging finance that we accessed on account of the accrual we are expecting following the shortfall in terms of remittance from the Federal Government on account of 13 per cent derivation, we were quite clear why we needed N100 billion out of about N240 billion.
“So, that discount facility was made public, we were transparent in our processes much more than any state.
“We are not in the business of propaganda and we are not going to tell you that the opposition candidate is clannish because the few things he attracted from the Federal Government were sited in his home village,” Aniagwu said.
He said that the Gov. Okowa-led administration would continue to work till the last day in office.
He added that the PDP governorship candidate, Oborevwori, has a blue print of what he wanted to do to deepen development in terms of infrastructure, human capital development and job creation.
Aniagwu urged the people of the state to have a discerning mind and vote for PDP and Oborevwori and not to yield to the antics of the opposition who had no track record of success.
According to him, only Oborevwori would sustain the understanding and the zoning arrangement that has ensured peace and unity among different ethnic groups and sustain the development trajectory in Delta.
(NAN)
