Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has
denied allegations of involvement in contract racketeering, the bombing of oil
pipelines and corruption or diversion of funds.
Akpabio made the denial in a statement signed by Anietie
Ekong, his Special Adviser on Media and made available on
Wednesday.
These allegations were levelled against the Minister by Joy
Nunieh, a former Managing Director, Interim Management Committee, Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC.
The Minister insisted that he had only awarded three
contracts since his appointment, adding that all three contracts went through
due processes.
Speaking on Nunieh’s allegation that he(Akpabio) directed
her to change the Dollars in the NDDC’s account, the Minister said it is no
longer news that the NDDC’s account is domiciled with the Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN.
“Every inflow and outflow is known and traceable. NDDC gets
its revenue in Dollars which is paid directly to its Treasury Single Account
(TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“The Dollar is then converted to Naira by the CBN and paid
into the NDDC Naira Account still domiciled with the CBN upon a written
application from the NDDC.”
Akpabio said he does not give verbal instructions to
anybody, “all instructions are in writing and in response to a request from the
Commission.”
The Minister also described the allegations that he ordered
Nunieh to remove Kaltungo, as head of the legal team, as false.
He said he has taken steps to instruct his lawyers to “seek
necessary redress in a court of competent jurisdiction on his behalf over the
defamatory statements made by Ms. Nunieh.
The Minister encouraged all Nigerians to hold their leaders
to account, urging them to take their time to “sift between the chaff and the
substance before embarking on far-reaching allegations, opinions and views.”
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