DESOPADEC Law is fraudulent ---- Ariyo

Warri based legal practitioner, Mr. Robinson Ariyo says the circumstances surrounding the passage of the new DESOPADEC Bill by the State House of Assembly and its signing into law by Governor Okowa is suspicious and fraught with deceit and misrepresentation.

Speaking with newsmen yesterday in Warri, the All Progressives Congress, APC House of Assembly candidate in the 2015 general elections for Warri South Constituency 1 disclosed that what was circulated to stakeholders as the proposed amendment to the 2006 DESOPADEC Law was radically different from what finally came out.

He said the document circulated on which memorandum were submitted and adopted and a public hearing was held at the floor of the House where he represented the Itsekiri National Youth Council, INYC was a proposed amendment but what was passed into law was a repeal of the 2006 DESOPADEC law, saying ‘it was a conspiracy between the House of Assembly and Governor Okowa.

Barr. Ariyo said amendment implies the retention of fundamental provisions of the old law and addition of a few new ones, saying that what happened in this new law amount to misrepresentation and that Deltans were deceived by the House of Assembly and the Governor and promised to drag the matter to court.

He supported the steps being taken by Itsekiri woman leader, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor even as he differs from her on the her approach to the matter as the Governor has no right to tamper with the Derivation fund as provided for in the constitution.

He  expressed disgust over what the governor termed the NDDC model he adopted in the new law, saying NDDC is fund is not constitutional while the derivation fund comes directly from total revenue accruing to the Federation account to oil bearing communities from where the natural resources is derived and not to impacted communities as in the new DESOPADEC law.

The lawyer noted that the derivation fund is allocated constitutionally like the one going to the states, local Government and federal Government, insisting that the state government has no right to tamper with it for any reason and spreading it to everybody.

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