called from sahara reporters unedited
With Delta State Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah,
constantly stating that the state’s dwindling monthly allocations were
affecting several government projects, some sources in the state accuse
Sheila Roli Uduaghan, wife of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, of using
public funds to build a gigantic multi-billion naira private school on
government land she allegedly grabbed.
Our sources, including senior civil servants in the state, said Mrs.
Uduaghan’s school project is sited on land that originally belonged to
the Delta State House of Assembly. “The plan was to build a police
station and a clinic on the site, but the First Lady grabbed the land,”
said one source.
SaharaReporters learnt that an engineer named Mr. Adeleke, chairman
of Peculiar Company, was handling the school project, which is part of
the governor’s wife’s purported pet project name, “I Care Foundation.”
Several of our sources disclosed that the project was being financed
with state funds.
The project, which comprises nursery, primary, secondary and
theological schools, is expected to open in September 2014. A source
said most of the students are expected to be boarding.
Some state civil servants condemned the project, saying it would end
up as a big waste of public funds. They compared it to the “Nkoyo Ibori
Children’s Referral Medical Center, Agbarho,” a project initiated by the
wife of former Governor James Ibori, Theresa Nkoyo Ibori.
Questioned on the project, Information Commissioner Chike Ogeah
remarkably refused to mention the owner of the project. He merely said,
“Actually the project is a private one and my duty is not to monitor
individual private projects but rather government projects.”
But two Government House sources told our correspondent that the
project was a bad development, pointing out that Governor Uduaghan last
year had frustrated the hope of children and their parents by shutting
down the model schools in the state. “Why should the governor close down
model schools and now he is allowing his wife to establish her own
private school where money will be extorted from parents?” one source
asked.
Another source said, “The governor’s wife has always claimed [being]
born again. Yet, she is involved in things that never depict the way of
Christ. That project is a project running into several billions of naira
from the state treasury. Can you imagine that [a] few weeks ago, this
so-called ‘born again’ issued a quit notice to women selling wares from
kiosks at the Asaba International Airport. And that’s because she was
taking a branch of her fast food ‘OTRES’ to the airport. She warned the
petty trading women that failure to quit, they would be arrested and
detained.”
An aggrieved member of the Delta House of Assembly asserted that the
land in question belonged to the legislature, but because of the
governor’s overbearing influence, his wife was not questioned when she
grabbed it. The lawmaker added that the assembly would have flexed its
muscle if a less powerful person than Mrs. Uduaghan had grabbed land
belonging to it. “We would have been issuing summons here and there for
the usurper to make appearance at the floor of the House for
questioning,” said the source.
A senior civil servant asked: “What business is Mrs. Uduaghan into
that can afford her this gigantic school project if [she’s] not using
Delta State funds? This was how James Ibori’s wife, Nkoyo, used the
state’s funds amounting to N350 million for the moribund Children
Referral Hospital at Agbarho and later turned it to a private hospital
all in the name of pet project.”
When Mrs. Ibori’s project was launched in November 2000, the then
First Lady had stated that her foundation would use funds raised to
upgrade the healthcare facilities for children in the state by embarking
on the construction and equipping of a Referral Medical Center for
children. The center was supposed to offer prompt medical attention to
children in distress and various health complications. However, the
community mobilized against Mr. Ibori’s wife to stop her project when
they discovered that she had already converted the hospital to her
private property, even though the project was funded by the Delta State
government and other donors, including oil companies.
The former judge of the Supreme Court and Chairman Oputa Panel and father to our famous charlie boy Justice Chukwudifu Oputa died today at age 96 of a brief illness. We express our condolence to his family and pray God rest His Soul.... Amen.
