A former Commissioner in Delta State, Charles Aniagwu, has said that elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, progressed in error in his comment on the administration of former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
The former Commissioner, who served in the Okowa administration, said this on Friday in a statement he issued.
The statement followed the criticism of Okowa, his administration and his political choices in the 2023 general election, where he was the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Aniagwu said: “In the case of the Delta State elderstatesman, he progressed in error, and I wouldn’t know whether that means lying. The issues he put forth are not original to him. In the course of the election, he had his own candidate in the state election and we defeated that candidate. Perhaps the anger of his candidate losing is still possibly part of what is pulling his position.
“I will actually appeal that you come to Delta. When you come to Delta you will see the difference that Governor Okowa has been able to make in terms of infrastructure.
“He also talked about the issue of betrayal. He said that in Asaba that governors met and agreed that the presidency should come to the South. That is not true. You need to go and google it. When governors converged in Asaba, they discussed the issue of open grazing. It was in Lagos that governors and that time it was not even part of their agenda, it was an addendum introduced by the governor of Ondo State where they talked about whether they would like….
“So, when our elder statesman claims that they came to Asaba and that we deceived them it is not true. You know how the PDP threw their ticket open.
“So, we plead with the elder-statesman, the respect we have for him we will not be in a hurry to withdraw it. If not for his age, I can bet you that my principal (Okowa) would have been in a position to proceed to court. But when you drag a 96 year old man to court in Africa where there is a lot of sentiment, the public will turn and say why are you fighting an old man.
“But we plead with him to leave those persons who are giving him those stories which are at variance with reality. The development in Delta is worth we are very, very proud of. It is not about what I am saying on TV.
“You can come to Delta and see and you will wonder how Governor Okowa was able to put all these projects on ground. Anytime, any day we will be ready to face anybody and we will show you projects, point by point. Whether it is the State Secretariat which is number one in the country or whether it is the different bridges or the technical colleges which we have built. We are the only state in this country that established three universities in one fell swoop and not only that we built three universities, we are funding them. We are the only state in this country where every other university in this country were on strike ours never went that way.”
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