Delta Gov’s Advisor Seen Skimming Millions From State Funds

By SaharaReporters, New York

Toju Isiche, special advisor to Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan, is reportedly “amassing great wealth for himself” by skimming money meant for the region.
According to some of the opposition parties’ chairmen, the governor released $65 million but the Special Advisor appropriated it and lodged it into a personal fixed deposit account so as to profit from the interest to the detriment of the parties that the funds were meant for.
Mr. Toju Isichei disbursed the funds in connivance with leadership of the Association of Registered Political Parties in Delta state, it was alleged.
 It was gathered that the SA seeking to corner more money into his private pocket allegedly forced parties into conducting congresses although constitutionally he has no right to force any party to conduct congresses.
Our reporter learnt that, in his bid to buy extra time in order to accrue interest, the SA set up a verification committee and forced over thirty chairmen of the parties to embark on a verification exercise of parties in the state to their headquarters in Abuja to confirm their authenticity.
An act which has been condemned in its entirety by the parties was described as an avenue for the SA to grab more money for himself.
It was gathered that the embattled SA was able to verify only 25 parties in his Abuja trip but went ahead to bloat the list from the initial 40 parties to 52 parties and in all this, he still denied some parties the largesse claiming that the affected parties did not come forward for verification.
Some party chairmen, who asked for anonymity, confided in our reporter that before the appointment of Mr. Isichei as SA Inter-Party Relations, there were 40 political parties receiving Uduaghan’s funds, but as of last month, Mr. Isichei had increased the list to five-two parties.
It was further gathered that following complaints from party members as a result of how the SA disbursed the money, the State Security Service (SSS) confronted the embattled SA but he allegedly rebuffed the SSS saying it was purely an internal matter concerning his office as such they have no right to challenge him over his dealings as regard the disbursement of the funds.
Meanwhile, a party chairman disclosed that heand five parties were given the sum of N1 million each, out of which the SA allegedly deducted 20% each while other parties were given N300, 000, N250, 000 respectively with the SA deducting his percentage.
 Speaking to our reporter under the condition of anonymity, some party members who the SA allegedly dragged to Abuja for the verification exercise had this to say: “We are so disappointed with the foolish way the so called leadership of the Association of Registered Political Parties in Delta state is going about the whole thing as regard the governor’s largesse. The Association chairman who is known to be a chronic hungry and self acclaimed mushroom politician, has sold us all out to the SA who is now amassing wealth for himself to our detriment. It’s very unfortunate. Just watch in the few days we shall reorganize the Association.”