Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Wednesday, asked the Federal Government to return the £4.2m Ibori loot to the state.
Okowa, who spoke at the quarterly media briefing in Asaba, also gave the FG the option of investing it in specific projects in the state.
According to him, the state government had written the Attorney General of the Federation and the presidency to table the request.
In his words, “Now that the United Kingdom has returned the money to the country, we want to ensure that it is refunded to the state. Letters have been written and we have made appeals to Mr. President and Attorney General of the Federation. We asked that either the money is returned to us, or applied to projects in Delta State.
“We also suggested some projects to which the money can be applied. The £4.2m should amount to about N2.2b going by current exchange rate,” he said.
Lending his voice, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof. Itse Sagay, said spending the returned Ibori loot outside Delta State would amount to breach of trust.
“The money belongs to Delta State and not the Federal Government. If they don’t want to give to the state government directly, they should spend it exclusively in Delta, otherwise it will be a breach of trust,” he said.
