Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum has accused the Nigerian Senate of playing a ‘game’ with the probe of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, and the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over a N40 billion contract scandal.
The anti-corruption group criticised the probe, saying that the IMC is “the best thing that has happened so far” in the Commission.
The Chairman of the Forum, Prince Kpokpogri, said that Senator Akpabio should be supported in his work to reform the Commission.
“Is the National Assembly saying that contractors who were owed over a year ago should not be paid even after the contracts were certified to have been duly executed?
“Are they aggrieved that some of their youth contractors had been denied opportunities for more fraudulent jobs?
“Or are they angry that there would be no more free money from contracts that were never executed?” he asked.
The anti-corruption crusader advised the National Assembly to focus on the pressing national concern of the moment, namely the COVID-19 crisis.
He said that inviting Akpabio over the money he received as a result of the Presidency’s approval to pay contractors is a distraction, either to cover up for their laxity and inability to add value to the system or a grand plan to harm Akpabio.
Kpokpogri accused some politicians of trying to use the NDDC to fund the 2023 election, insisting that there were vested interests in the petition to probe the IMC for spending N40 billion to offset contractual debts.
“Let me tell the world that the Senate invitation on Akpabio is just an agenda to mount pressure on him, to intimidate him, just for disappointing their fraudulent antics. But he should not be perturbed; it is only but a game.
“What about the petition against the fraudulent administration of the former acting Managing Director of NDDC which was read at the floor of the Senate and heard during a public hearing? Why has the National Assembly not come up with the outcome of that investigation? Why have those who had looted the Commission dry for themselves and their godfathers not been penalised for corrupt offences?
“The IMC is the best thing that has happened so far in NDDC. We have never had it this good in the Niger Delta. Is the Senate saying that contractors should not be paid? It is high time this nonsense stopped.
“I call on the Presidency to disregard any blackmail against the person of Senator Akpabio. We have passed a vote of confidence in him. He is doing what the NDDC was created for, which is to better the lives of the Niger Delta people as an interventionist agency,” he added.