Senate President, Godwill Akpabio, has said that a former governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, was allowed into the All Progressives Congress to save him from persecution by the the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“Okowa came (into the APC) because of fears of his corruption cases; it’s not because of his sincerity,” Mr Akpabio said in a leaked audio conversation with one Sandra Duru.

The senate president, who noted that Mr Okowa was oblivious of the APC leadership when he joined the party, added, “Okowa didn’t know anything about the new chairman of the party. When the new chairman of the party was coming, it was between me and the president.”

Mr Akpabio also dwelt on Delta politics, boasting that he was instrumental in making Mr Okowa secure the APC senatorial ticket for Delta North ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The development came several months after the anti-graft agency arrested Mr Okowa over N1.3 trillion oil derivation fraud. 

Mr Okowa, the vice presidential candidate to former vice president Atiku Abubakar on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections, was accused of looting and acquiring assets up to N1.3 trillion.

Some of the assets included massive shares in UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas Company, among other investments in the oil sector. 

Mr Okowa, alongside his successor, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, incumbent commissioners, local government chairpersons and PDP leaders in Delta State, later dumped the PDP for the ruling APC, noting the decision was taken in the interest of the state.

“It was not about me. It was not about the governor, but the fact that there is the need for us to connect to Abuja. That goodwill that is in Abuja, that resource that is in Abuja, of which Delta State is a large contributor, there was a need to connect to it,” the former governor said.

Meanwhile, the EFCC said Mr Okowa was still under probe despite joining the APC.

“To the best of my knowledge, that case is still undergoing investigation. And in due course, justice will be served,” Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, EFCC’s director of legal and prosecution, noted.