On Tuesday, Benjamin Kalu,
spokesman of the house of reps, reacted to the letter Godswill Akpabio,
minister of Niger Delta affairs, sent to the lower legislative chamber on the
alleged beneficiaries of contracts at the Niger Delta Development Commission
(NDDC).
Akpabio had sent the letter in
response to the ultimatum given by Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of
reps.
While appearing before a panel
investigating alleged mismanagement of funds by the interim management
committee (IMC) of the NDDC, Akpabio had accused the lawmakers of getting 60
percent of the contracts awarded by the commission.
In response, Gbajabiamila had
issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the minister, asking him to list all those who
benefitted from the contracts as alleged by Akpabio, or face legal action.
Akpabio, thereafter, sent a letter,
which was read by the speaker on July 23, in which he claimed that he was
misunderstood, but still listed some lawmakers who had got contracts.
In a statement in response to the
minister’s letter, the reps spokesman accused Akpabio of addressing a personal
letter to the speaker instead of responding to the house on publishing the
names of lawmakers who benefitted from the contracts.
“Instead of publishing the list
for the world to see in the interest of transparency, the Minister in his usual
diversionary tactics, chose to send an irrelevant 8-paragraph private letter to
the Speaker regarding projects of 2018 which pre-date the 9th House of
Representatives and had little to do with the bogus claims he made,” Kalu said
in a statement.
However, a copy of the letter
which was seen by TheCable showed that Akpabio addressed the letter, dated July
23, to the clerk of the house and not Gbajabiamila.
Meanwhile, the reps have insisted
that the minister must publish a full list in line with his accusations.
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