Godswill Akpabio,
minister of Niger Delta affairs, says the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC) under his watch will not be “raped”.
In a statement on
Tuesday, Anietie Ekong, media aide to the minister, quoted him saying this
while responding to some allegations.
Last week, Peter
Nwoboshi, chairman senate committee on Niger Delta, accused the minister of
demanding contracts worth N500 million.
The senator said he
had deleted the phone number of Akpabio over allegations that he is fuelling
the crisis between the NDDC and the national assembly.
But in the
statement, the minister wondered on what basis he could have asked the senator
for contracts.
“[The] truth is that
the letters he was brandishing were addressed to the leadership of the national
assembly at the time to make recommendations for zonal intervention projects as
requested by the leadership,” he said.
“Is he the managing
director of the NDDC? Senator Akpabio never requested NDDC contracts from
Senator Peter Nwaboshi as he is claiming.
“He is lying and no
one should take him serious.
“With the present
Interim Management Committee led by Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei and the NDDC
under the supervision of Senator Godswill Akpabio as minister of Niger Delta
affairs, it can no longer be business as usual as the wanton rape of the Niger
Delta region must stop.”
The minster asked
Nwaboshi to respond to the allegations levelled against him by the interim
management committee (IMC) of the NDDC.
“Rather than seek
for straws to cling on, Senator Nwaoboshi should address the grievous
allegations of the NDDC that he mindlessly wrecked the NDDC budget for his
personal benefits, a practice that has been perpetrated over the years and
throwing the Commission into near insolvency which the present management is
trying to clean up,” he said.
Kemebradikumo
Pondei, acting managing director of the commission, had accused federal
lawmakers of inserting over 500 non-existent projects in the commission’s
budget.
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