Politics

Akpabio denies abandoning task of constituting NDDC board

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The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said on Friday that he did not leave the responsibility for the constitution of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board for someone else.

Akpabio, who made the denial in a statement, noted that reports that he left the constitution of the NDDC board was a mere fabrication of sponsored writers in the media.

The statement reads: “My attention has been drawn to sponsored write ups in the media, claiming that I passed the buck on my responsibility for the constitution of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“The write ups, deliberately published while I was outside the country on national duty, reportedly quoted my media aide, Jackson Udom, claiming that I have denied responsibility for the constitution of the board of the commission. I have checked with Mr Udom and he has clearly said he was misquoted.

While I am not shocked by the mischief inherent in the publication, I am alarmed at the extent of falsehood the writers went in pushing their anti-Niger Delta agenda to scuttle the due consideration of the report of the Forensic Audit by stampeding the government. More alarming is the attempt to drag the hallowed name of our president into this plot.

“For the avoidance of doubt, President Muhammadu Buhari has set out to reposition the NDDC after 19 years of rot, saw to the undermining of the dreams of the fathers of the region, to fast track its development through the setting up of an interventionist agency.

Part of the strategy was a forensic audit to understand what went wrong, despite the resources committed to the commission over the years.

“The report of that audit has just been submitted to the President, who is studying it to come up with a formula for a commission fit for purpose. That formula is what the board being put together will work with.

“It is not in the interest of the region to stampede the government into aborting the reform process. The President has demonstrated immense love for the Niger Delta and its people. This is reflected in the support he has given to the NDDC to complete some of the projects abandoned over the years, like the headquarters complex in Port Harcourt, the Students’ Hostel at Uyo and the electrification project in Ondo State.

“The President wants to give to the region an interventionist agency that will realize the dreams of our fathers for our people and generations yet unborn. The greatest disservice we can do to the region is to attempt to stampede him, through ingeniously crafted media campaigns.

“I am irrevocably committed to assisting the president to leave behind a legacy for the Niger Delta people, particularly, saving the NDDC from dying like past developmental agencies put together for the region since 1958.”

Politics

Akpabio submits NDDC audit report revealing13,000 abandoned projects in Niger Delta

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The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, on Thursday, submitted the Forensic Audit Report on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) while noting that 13,000 projects were abandoned in the Region.

Akpabio submitted the report to President Muhammadu Buhari through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, in Abuja.

“The report of the audit committee showed that there are over 13,000 abandoned projects in the Niger Delta and even before the submission of the report some contractors have returned to site on their own and completed about 77 road projects.

Although the exercise had a checkered history, I thank Mr President and all those who supported and ensured its success”.

He stressed that the exercise was not done to witch-hunt anyone, but to ensure that the huge sums of funds committed to the area yearly are justified.

He lamented that the region had remained backward since 1958 in spite of successive governments’ efforts through the creation of various interventionist programmes and projects.

The Lead Forensic Auditor, Alhaji Kabir Ahmed, in a brief overview of the report, said that the team recommended managerial as well as structural changes, chief of which is the downsizing of the NDDC’s board.

He said to reduce cost the team recommended that members of the team should henceforth be appointed on a part-time basis.

Politics

Akpabio receives NDDC forensic audit report

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Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, has revealed that the Federal Government will study the Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) final forensic report in order to ensure the action of President Muhammadu Buhari over crucial areas.

Akpabio disclosed this in Abuja when he received the forensic audit report from the security team on Tuesday.

The Minister expressed satisfaction on the job done, maintaining that the report would be a turning point for the NDDC and development of the Niger Delta region.

This would pave the way for fresh nominations for a substantive board of the NDDC to the National Assembly, which had generated a lot of controversy,” Akpabio noted.

“It would also facilitate the process of constituting the board, boost development of the Niger Delta region and reposition the commission to ensure optimal performance, as against what obtained in the past.”

He restated Buhari’s directive for a holistic examination and review of NDDC’s operations, for the economic prosperity of the Niger Delta region.

Politics

PDP urges DSS to investigate Akpabio

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has implored the Department of State Services (DSS) to commence investigations into the activities of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio over alleged terror links.

According to the PDP, “Akpabio has shown that he has certain information regarding the spur for escalated acts of terrorism in our country, our party urges the DSS and other security agencies to immediately invite him for questioning so as to expose the politicians in his party that are behind the ugly situation in our country.”

This was contained in a statement issued by the PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan on Friday.

Ologbondiyan also urged the secret service to compel Akpabio to “name politicians in the All Progressives Congress that are behind the acts of terrorism and banditry ravaging our nation.”

There is self-professed evidence that Senator Akpabio is privy to certain terrorism-related information which he must be made to share with the DSS as well as other security agencies,” the statement partly read.

According to the opposition party, this call was in response to comments attributed to Akpabio who stated that the acts of terrorism in Nigeria were “politically motivated.”

“It is instructive to state that Senator Akpabio’s revelation provides more insight into the alleged affiliation of APC leaders with terrorist elements, who had reportedly infiltrated our nation after being imported from neighboring countries by the APC, as political mercenaries, to assist it in unleashing violence to rig the 2019 general elections.

The PDP invites Nigerians to note that the APC and its leaders have failed to account for these mercenaries and have remained silent despite widespread demands by Nigerians asking the APC to return these killers to wherever they brought them,” the statement added.

Politics

More Niger Delta groups urge Buhari to sack Akpabio

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A group, the Niger Delta Development Initiative (NDDI), has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.

NDDI based its call on the allegation that Akpabio hijacked the “functions of the NDDC in violation of the spirit and letters of the enabling law” that set up the commission.

This was contained in the group’s petition to President Buhari on Thursday and signed by its President, Ebikalome Tonye Anselm and Secretary-General, Johnson Oghenekevbe.

NDDI also in the petition, appealed to Buhari to inaugurate the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which he appointed in August 2019.

It said there were currently many illegalities in the NDDC and called on President Buhari to act in accordance with the law setting up the commission.

The NDDI wants Buhari to inaugurate the which had the names of Dr Pius Odubu as Chairman; Bernard Okumagba, as Managing Director and 13 other member nominees, which Buhari sent to the Senate for approval in October 2019.

After the senators gave their approval of the nominees, rather than inaugurate the board, Buhari had instead appointed an Interim Management Committee (IMC) for the NDDC.

In their petition, NDDI said it was Akpabio that advised Buhari against the inauguration of the board, whose objective it said was to join other compatriots to develop the Niger Delta region.

This is not the first time people from the oil region had called on Buhari to sack Akpabio.

In August 2020, monarchs and stakeholders of oil bearing communities had also urged Buhari to urgently restore peace to the NDDC by sacking Akpabio.

They had then accused the minister of being the mastermind of the massive corruption in the NDDC and that he deceitfully misled Buhari to set up the IMC and to transfer the commission to his ministry to enable him hijack it.

Politics

‘Fake news’, Akpabio denies giving Malami $5m bribe

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The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has described the report he gave $5 million bribe to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, as fake news.

The minister was alleged to have bribed Malami and others to facilitate the appointment of a sole administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), a commission under his ministry.

Malami has since denied the claim.

Also responding to the allegation, Akpabio, in an statement at the weekend through his media aide, Anietie Ekong, said:

The attention of the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been drawn to a piece of fake news which claimed that Senator Akpabio paid $5 million bribe to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and others to secure the appointment of a Sole Administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“The story is a desperate attempt by some unscrupulous bloggers to impugn the integrity of the Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami as the claim is not only spurious but utterly ridiculous.”

Akpabio, said that the allegation emanated from people not happy with the NDDC forensic audit and vowed to drag the matter to court.

The allegation was part of events that have trailed the appointment of Effiong Akwa as NDDC sole administrator.

Since President Muhammadu Buhari announced Akwa, who is from Akwa Ibom, the same state Akpabio hails from, the people of Ijaw ethnic group and people from other Niger Delta states have continued to protest against the appointment.

They argue that the appointment was against the principle of rotation of the NDDC leadership among the nine states of the Niger Delta region.

But Akpabio claimed in the statement that Akwa was appointed NDDC’s administrator as a result of a lawsuit against the NDDC.

The fact is that in a suit number ABJ/CS/617/2020 filed by a Civil Society Organization, Forum for Accountability and Good Governance, at a Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Ahmed Mohammed had granted an order restraining the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC from performing the functions of the board and accessing the Commission’s offices and files.

The Order clearly listed the Managing Director Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, Acting Executive Director of Projects Dr Cairo Ojougboh, Mrs Caroline Nagboh and Cecilia Akintomide as those restrained. The Order also asked that ‘the most senior civil servant or administrator in the Commission be appointed’ to take charge of the Commission.

It was based on this order that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the elevation of the Acting Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Mr Effiong Akwa, being the most Senior Administrator to take over the headship of the NDDC as an Interim Administrator pending the completion of the Forensic Audit Exercise, the statement read.

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