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 to DAILY POST 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.”
