The Publicity Secretary of Urhobo Progress Union, Mr. Abel Oshevire, has reacted to a recent letter by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, where he referred the former President General of Urhobo Progress Union, Chief Joe Omene, as the President General of UPU. In his reaction, Oshevire said that the current UPU leadership has Olorogun Moses Taiga as President General. He further said that Omene is a former UPU President General, whose tenure ended since 2016 and no longer has the right to speak on behalf of the Urhobo Nation. He said this “misrepresentation” is being taken seriously with the federal government and other places where Omene is frequently parading himself as UPU PG.
Oshevire further said that the UPU had made its position on the money recovered from the former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, known as reported in various media, including The Newsguru, and that remains the position of UPU:
The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) had faulted Federal Government’s decision to use the £4.2m (about N2.2b), being part of former Delta State Governor, James Ibori’s loot to be repatriated to Nigeria on the Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan road.
The UPU PG, Olorogun Taiga, had advised the Federal Government to use the money to rehabilitate the Delta part of the Benin-Warri road, failed portions of the East West Road in Delta and fund the Federal University of Petroleum, Effurun.
“The money belongs to Delta State and it should not be spent on projects outside Delta, while most Federal Government assets and roads in Delta are crying for attention, Olorogun Taiga had said.