Faceoff in Delta: Burutu Councilors Reject N2.5 Million Constituency Project Fund, Demand N10m, Accountability
There has been a looming collision between the legislators of Burutu Local Government Council and the chairman of the council, Chief Julius Takeme over what they described as failure of the council chairman to release a substantial funds for constituency projects for the various wards in the council.
Sources revealed that anger is also boiling among the top/senior civil servants and appointees of the council over poor management of funds in the council.
The sources who pleaded anonymity accused the council chairman of running the council as his personal entity and personal business, despite the huge allocation for the past two years, raising the issue of transparency and accountability in the financial management of the council.
The deepening crisis rocking Burutu Local Government Council in Delta State reportedly sparked by the recent release of N2.5 million to each councillor for constituency projects instead of N10 million directed by the governor of the state.
Parliament Newapaper gathered that the payment was approved on July 16, 2026, for 2025 constituency projects has done little to calm tensions, but however, the councillors reportedly view the amount as a departure from Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s directive that every councillor should receive at least ₦10 million for constituency projects.
A senior council official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, said the funds were only released after the intervention of the member representing Burutu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Julius Pondi.
The source said the disagreement over constituency project funds is only one aspect of a wider conflict that has strained relations between the executive and legislative arms of the council.
According to the official, the chairman has been accused of executing major projects without obtaining legislative approval, despite the House approving the council’s annual budgets.
“The budgets were passed, but specific projects and their costs were never brought before the legislature for approval before funds were committed,” the source alleged.
Among the projects cited is the ongoing council secretariat complex, which the source claimed is being executed by a contractor whose identity has not been disclosed to the legislative arm.
The official further alleged that nearly 87 per cent of the funds earmarked for two major projects had already been released, despite what he described as the absence of legislative oversight.
The source also alleged that the chairman personally awarded the contracts to himself through proxies and failed to follow due bidding process.
Beyond project execution, the source alleged that councillors have repeatedly complained about the non-release of statutory running costs, forcing many of them to finance official legislative activities from personal resources.
Financial records available to the newsmen showed that Burutu Local Government operated an approved budget of N8.7 billion in 2025 and over N15 billion in 2026. However, the source alleged that capital projects were undertaken without the level of legislative scrutiny required under local government financial procedures.
The source further disclosed that attempt by the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Fidelis Tilije and the Delta State Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Chief Kanemala Penawou to reconcile both arms of the council had failed to resolve the impasse.
According to the official, the prolonged disagreement has affected the smooth administration of the council and created concerns over accountability and transparency in the management of public funds.
Another source in the council, said the council chairman budgeted about N15 billion naira for the 2026 budget, this invariably indicated that the council received over a billion naira allocation from statutory allocation, subsidy, excess crude and others.
The council source estimated the total wage billion of the council to be N250 million to N300 million Naira monthly.
The sources said, “The essence of the budget was to capture the general needs of various components that make up the local government, that is why even Mr president and the governor of Delta state also distribute projects across all the local government areas of Delta state, case study is the projects Governor Sheriff Oborivwori is doing in Burutu while not being from there.
“But in the case of the council chairman, the only two projects that he has done are the building of the legislative complex that is at DPC level now and the Local Government Secretariat in Burutu main town, from all indications 87% to 90% of the funds have already been released to the council chairman, a record that can be verified by Mr governor himself, the engineers, the auditors and financial records of the council should be made public at this point.
“For the past two years there have been no projects in any other wards and communities, no public toilets, borehole projects, no healthcare centres and no mono pump.
The source further stated, “Chief Julius Takeme has been the decider, the financier, and everything all by himself without including the council workers and civil servants in the disbursement of the council found.
“I’m appealing for the intervention of the state government in the plight of the councillors and I’m appealing to every respected leader in Burutu LGA to come and intervene in this great injustice and problem, because Chief Julius Takeme does not respect anybody and he is just a pretender and he does not even think about the negative effects of his actions on the governor of the state.
“A year ago the Delta state councillors forum held a symposium in Asaba where all 500 councillors gathered, and the governor was in attendance with other dignitaries including the immediate past governor. On that day, the governor held a private meeting with the 25 leaders of the 25 local government council areas including the commissioner for local government affairs, commissioner for finance and ALGON chairman, and in that meeting His Excellency, the governor of Delta State queried all the local government chairmen over lack of meaningful projects in the political Wards after a year of receiving huge allocations.
“In the case of Burutu, the governor gave a directive to the Burutu LGA council chairman to release at least 10 million to each councillor to carry out meaningful projects in their respective wards.
The Burutu LGA chairman, Hon. Julius Takeme was duly informed and he has kept promising the Burutu LGA councillors for the past year without keeping to his promises.
“After all these failed promises the councillors were able to embrace the part of peace brokered by the member representing Burutu Federal House Of Representatives, Hon. Julius Pondi. He held a private meeting between the councillors and the council chairman and among other issues discussed, the constituency projects were prioritised and Takeme openly promised in the presence of the member representing Burutu federal constituency that very soon he will release funds for the councillors to carry out projects without mentioning an amount.
After a week he directed the DLG to release 2.5 million to the councillors for constituency projects.
“These raise the question, what projects can a councillor achieve with N2.5 million and from the released N2.5 million, civil servants retirement payments will be deducted.
Hence, the money has been kept and they have been appealing that the Governor and every other stakeholder should intervene to correct all these abnormalities.
“We think this is the essence of the councilors agitation, Burutu LGA consists of 11 wards and not just 1 ward. We are not against projects in Burutu main town but there should be inclusivity and distribution of projects across all wards and the council chairman should follow the governor directives”.
The sources appealed to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to order an independent investigation into the council’s financial activities and administrative processes, insisting that only a thorough probe would restore confidence in governance at the local government.
However, efforts to obtain the reaction of the Burutu Local Government chairman were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, his response will be published when received.
