EXCLUSIVE: Delta Governor Sheriff Oborevwori Leaves N1.86 Trillion As Cash Balance In 25 Banks To Generate Interest While People And Projects Suffer, N773 Million Of It Frozen In Heritage Bank Whose Licence Was Revoked In 2024

Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State went on national television and told the whole country, in his own words, the single assignment he has set for himself in Government House, Asaba. In an interview on ARISE News, the Governor declared: “I’m begging people to vote for President Bola Tinubu. It’s my number one project. That project is bigger than any other project because it will help us achieve more for our people.” The re-election of President Tinubu in 2027, by the Governor’s own televised confession, stands above every road, every hospital, every school and every water scheme in a state that produces the crude oil that runs the nation.

On the same television appearance, the Governor handed the credit for every naira his government has spent to the President whose re-election is his number one project, telling viewers that the money coming into Delta State flows from President Tinubu’s economic reforms. At the groundbreaking of the Otovwodo Flyover in Ughelli North, he made the same confession before a crowd: “More money is coming to the states. I am not a governor who will hide it. There is money.” Confronted in that same ARISE News interview with the charge that his government was keeping money idle, the Governor answered that the money was being kept for contractors, for jobs his government owed them, and he boasted in the same breath: “For the first time in the history of this state, we are not owing contractors. We don’t wait for allocation before paying contractors.”

What the Governor has never told Deltans on any television appearance is the size of the cash his government leaves sitting in the banks while it campaigns on that one project. SecretsReporters can now place the full account before them: at the close of 2023, the Governor’s first year end in office, Delta State left N92,905,148,770.01 in the banks. At the close of 2024 the balance stood at N751,721,603,224.34, and at the close of 2025 it stood at N1,011,835,468,849.12. Added together, the three year-end balances come to N1,856,462,220,843.47, spread across twenty-five banks. In two years of the number one project, the cash balance of Delta State multiplied more than ten times over, and it sat in the banks while it multiplied.

The Trillion That Closed 2025

At 31 December 2025, Premium Trust Bank Plc held N373,156,816,448.66 of Delta State money, the single largest balance in any bank. Fidelity Bank Plc held N204,868,392,240.35, a balance that stood at N3,512,779,798.43 only one year earlier and multiplied more than fifty-eight times in twelve months. Globus Bank Plc held N150,117,992,520.88, and Zenith Bank Plc, which held the largest balance of N378,331,460,758.93 at the end of 2024, closed 2025 holding N146,121,691,580.31. Access Bank Plc held N38,271,924,062.05, up from N2,223,330,795.55 a year earlier. First Bank Plc held N22,104,483,122.15, Sterling Bank Plc held N18,641,680,049.08, and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc held N16,207,963,544.65.

Polaris Bank Ltd held N9,825,582,509.01, First City Monument Bank Plc held N7,382,712,013.09, Union Bank Plc held N7,097,213,684.58, Providus Bank Plc held N6,464,825,166.26, Keystone Bank Plc held N2,542,444,839.28, United Bank for Africa Plc held N2,288,056,035.93, Ecobank Plc held N2,254,806,741.10, and Wema Bank Plc held N1,576,788,825.83. Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc held N777,990,912.60, Heritage Bank Plc held N772,763,637.00, Abbey Mortgage Bank held N772,380,919.17 in its IGR account, Unity Bank Plc held N583,321,449.57, Citi Bank International held N4,505,744.20, and Delta Trust Building Society held N1,132,803.38. Delta Building Society, the state’s own DBS Microfinance Bank, which held N77,597,194.97 at the end of 2024, closed 2025 at nil, and IC Global MFB, which held N30,624,307.27 for two straight years, also closed 2025 at nil. Signature Bank Plc closed 2025 with a nil balance, as it did in 2024.

The N751.72 Billion That Closed 2024

One year earlier, at 31 December 2024, Zenith Bank Plc alone held N378,331,460,758.93 of Delta State money, more than four times the total held in all twenty-four banks at the end of 2023. Premium Trust Bank Plc held N240,169,495,052.42, Globus Bank Plc held N51,327,396,796.22, and First Bank Plc held N28,389,235,052.89. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc held N9,103,444,089.62, Sterling Bank Plc held N7,994,975,155.99, Providus Bank Plc held N6,064,825,172.26, Polaris Bank Ltd held N4,964,688,880.77, United Bank for Africa Plc held N3,952,464,531.06, Fidelity Bank Plc held N3,512,779,798.43, Keystone Bank Plc held N3,102,628,353.89, and First City Monument Bank Plc held N2,826,127,545.83.

Access Bank Plc held N2,223,330,795.55 at the same date, Unity Bank Plc held N2,102,452,112.66, Union Bank Plc held N1,778,472,016.77, Ecobank Plc held N1,717,286,627.96, Wema Bank Plc held N1,241,957,087.60, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc held N887,525,295.74, Abbey Mortgage Bank held N840,942,163.05 in its IGR account, Heritage Bank Plc held N772,763,637.00, Citi Bank International held N296,525,175.65, Delta Building Society held N77,597,194.97, IC Global MFB held N30,624,307.27, and Delta Trust Building Society held N12,605,621.82. The total across the banks had risen more than eight times in a single year.

The N92.91 Billion That Closed 2023

At 31 December 2023, seven months into the Governor’s tenure, Zenith Bank Plc held N36,044,171,250.86 of Delta State money, Premium Trust Bank Plc held N21,174,261,244.45, Polaris Bank Ltd held N4,197,834,260.38, Globus Bank Plc held N4,176,821,727.44, Sterling Bank Plc held N3,430,136,186.52, First Bank Plc held N2,420,041,679.69, Fidelity Bank Plc held N2,335,605,067.54, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc held N2,282,841,137.24, Unity Bank Plc held N2,101,544,481.79, Ecobank Plc held N2,057,597,968.57, Union Bank Plc held N1,982,883,299.19, First City Monument Bank Plc held N1,712,659,642.22, United Bank for Africa Plc held N1,613,202,195.78, Wema Bank Plc held N1,423,817,762.68, Keystone Bank Plc held N1,399,972,232.05, Access Bank Plc held N1,247,526,120.75, Providus Bank Plc held N1,161,524,680.26, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc held N1,015,728,158.77, Heritage Bank Plc held N729,000,236.83, Citi Bank International held N156,613,041.01, Abbey Mortgage Bank held N121,911,449.41 in its IGR account, Delta Building Society held N76,225,017.49, IC Global MFB held N30,624,307.27, and Delta Trust Building Society held N12,605,621.82.

Across the three year ends together, Premium Trust Bank Plc accounts for N634,500,572,745.53 of Delta State year-end money, Zenith Bank Plc accounts for N560,497,323,590.10, Fidelity Bank Plc accounts for N210,716,777,106.32, Globus Bank Plc accounts for N205,622,211,044.54, First Bank Plc accounts for N52,913,759,854.73, Access Bank Plc accounts for N41,742,780,978.35, Sterling Bank Plc accounts for N30,066,791,391.59, and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc accounts for N27,594,248,771.51. The pile earned while it sat in the banks. Delta State took in investment income of N18,292,547,921.52 in 2025 and interest earned of N251,536,064.96, against investment income of N1,181,030,983.38 and interest earned of N14,430.00 in 2023.

One balance in the whole pile did not move by a single kobo for an entire year. Heritage Bank Plc held N772,763,637.00 of Delta State money at 31 December 2025, the identical figure, to the kobo, that it held at 31 December 2024. The Central Bank of Nigeria revoked the banking licence of Heritage Bank on 3 June 2024. Delta State money therefore spent the whole of 2025 locked in a bank that no longer holds a licence to operate, and its balance never changed.