Delta State government has indicated its readiness to challenge the federal government’s plan to spend the £4.2 million recently recovered from former governor James Ibori in the Supreme Court.
The commissioner for information, Charles Aniagwu, revealed this yesterday while reacting to the news of the repatriation of the funds, which according to the attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), would be used to complete the ongoing construction of the Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano road and Lagos-Ibadan road.
He said, “We would try to take advantage of the legal system for the federal government to correct the injustice that they are about to commit to us as a state.
“If you are fairly certain that the funds you are about to repatriate left the Delta State because of those who have ruled the state in thepast, on what basis would you now take the money elsewhere? Under what law?”
He said the federal government could only take a percentage of the cost of recovery and distribute the funds on federal highways in the state.
Meanwhile, a civil society organisation involved in asset recovery, the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), has recommended that the UK openly disclose the total amount recovered from Ibori, and that government should review the recently signed annex to the 2016 MoU on assets of £ 4.2 million for return to Delta State.
The executive director of ANEEJ and head of the Transparency and Accountability in the Management of Returned Assets (MANTRA) project, Rev David Ugolor, in a statement wondered why the returned assets taken from Delta State people will be used to finance federal infrastructure projects.
