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.
Source: The Cable