NDDC: Akpabio And Joy Nunieh Unending Fight

By Stephen Ubanna And Emmanuel Ufot

Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom state,  Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria and now minister of ministry of Niger Delta has a big task at hand: to convince Nigerians that the damning  allegations of Fraud and interference in the management of the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, levelled against him by Joy Nunieh, a former Managing Director of the Commission were false.

Nunieh,  had told Journalists at the Senate ad-hoc Investigative hearing on NNDC  that Akpabio had ‘’engineered her removal from office by President Muhammadu Buhari because she could not do his billings .                                                                                                     

The allegations of fraud and counter-allegations of fraud between the duo  may have informed  why the Ahmad Lawan led  Senate had  set up a seven-man ad-hoc  Committee to Investigate  the alleged financial  recklessness of the NDDC I,nterim Management  Committee, IMC,  to the tune of N40 billion.

Joy Nunieh: Former Managing Director, NNDC

 The Senate ad-hoc Committee Investigative hearing  may have provided AN opportunity for Nunieh, the former NDDC , boss, to  open up on Akapbio. An aggrieved Nunieh had alluded to the fact that on the day of going for their inauguration, the Akwa Ibom state born politician had  told  her  in the car that,’’ madam MD, that if you don’t do what I say, the same pen with which I used  to  sign your appointment letter,  will be  the same pen that  I will use to remove you’’. She disclosed that the first ministerial order the minister gave to her was that when she gets to PortHarcourt , I should change the dollars in the NDDC account. ’’I  was scared  to do that ‘’, she remarked.

 She  disclosed that the minister came to the oil city , two days after the inauguration, and still enjoined her to ensure she change the dollars in the Commission’s Account and also remove Alhaji Kaltungo, a Lawyer and to Head of the legal Team by sending  him on Compulsory retirement.  ’’We cannot have a northerner be the Head of the legal Unit’’, she claimed the minister had said.  The minister has denied the allegations, stressing that as a governor of Akwa Ibom state, he used his position to fight for the interest of northerners in the state.

 Nunieh, who was out to do battle with Akpabio, had said that he told her to remove the other Directors in the Commission  who  refused to take his instructions during the time of  Mrs. Akwagaga Enyia in 2019 .   She  may have shocked Nigerians  when she told members of the Committee that the minister demanded  $1 million  from the Commission to use for his Christmas.

 More revealing was the damning  accusations  that the NDDC   Headquarters has remained unconnected to the national grid because the girlfriend  is the major supplier of the diesel used to power the agency generating sets. She claimed that she had made a case  for  the diesel supply Contract to the agency  to be handed over  to the young boys in the nine states of the Niger Delta region but the minister will not take it. 

 The former NDDC boss  said the minister who had visited the NNDC Corporate Headquarters in PortHarcourt  had come with a draft  letter  which she had earlier  submitted  to the Senate  ad-hoc Committee requesting that ‘’ I should write and put it on  my  letter head implicating Peter Nwaoboshi, Chairman , Senate Committee on NNDC,  of collecting contracts from the Intervention agency. ‘’ I refused to do it because as a Lawyer whoever alleges must have a proof’’, she  has said. She disclosed that  the minister took offence for her action,  accusing  her of being ’’ungrateful’’. 

Itsay Say: Accusations And Counter Accusations Of Corruption In NDDC, Mind Boggling

  The crisis of Confidence between the duo  was said to have started   when she refused to sign the covering  letter which she said  was basically to avoid giving  the impression to the President that all the information contained in the petition alleging that Senator Nwaoboshi   was collecting contracts from NDDC was true. Instead of signing the covering letter ,  she was said   to have sent a letter to the Committee stating that Cairo Ojuogboh,  Executive Director who should know  about projects has left NDDC.

But a school of thought said the frosty relationship between the duo started when the minister took the the decision   to go ahead with the forensic  audit on the activities  of the Commission when he assumed office. The forensic audit which was okayed  by the Katsina state born Nigerian President was said to have exposed the gross mismanagement of funds in the intervention agency which may have led to the removal of Nuneh.

 In anger, she had accused Akpabio of collecting  30 contracts for the distilling and   water Hyacinth. She had said that the  contracts were awarded when the former oil –rich Akwa Ibom state governor and Festus Keyamo, a Lawyer and minister of State , ministry of Niger Delta,  had their first meeting with the Management at the Commission  in Port Harcourt.

Apparently to avoid  being  roped into the fraud, she had said that Linus, the  then Executive  Director, Finance, had refused to sign the Contract documents  because it did not follow the due process.  According to her the budget approved  for the distilling and water Hyacinth contracts was between N3 billion and N5 billion.

She may have shocked  Nigerians  when  she said the minister also asked  her to implicate the Chairman of House Committee on NDDC who had gone to  Ondo, his home state for a meeting  to plot  against him.  She noted that before her assumption of office, the Commission had over stretched its financial limit  with about N50 billion for distilling and water Hyacinth Contracts alone.

 The financial  situationof the Commission  was so bad  that the  National Assembly was said to have sent a strongly worded letter to it, advising the Intervention agency never to stop  any further  payment on distilling and water Hyacinth contracts. Nunieh major worry in the Commission  was  that Akapbabio never signs any  document but would push you to commit fraud.

She cited a Memo which  the  minister had asked  her to raise  in order to award  an emergency contract for flood victims. She claimed that the minister  had also directed her to include  projects  from the Refuge Commission in the list of the projects to be executed by the agency in the 201 9 budget.  She had said that the minister had wanted her to  swear an oath of secrecy when she turned down.

 She has her reason for doing so.  ‘’How do I  put some of the projects of the Refuge Commission on the NDDC budget when we have many unexecuted projects in the region’’, she had querried.   She noted that the relationship between Akabio and her office was getting  so bad that they had a reconciliation meeting in the office of Sariki Abba, at the Presidential Villa but that was how far they could go. Abba is the Special Assistant to the President on Domestics Affairs.

While appearing  at the Senate probe ad-hoc Committee, the Rivers state born former NDDC  Managing Director had made other damning allegations against the minister.  One of the allegations was the mismanagement of the agency N40 billion fund.

 Critics see the dirty fight between Nunieh, a former political Appointtee and Managing Director of NNDC and Akpabio , as a show of shame. Akpabio who will not want his  hard earned name to be rubbished by any political Appointee  was said to have told the Senate Investigative Committee on NNDC, that he never requested  and executed the Commission’s Contracts to the tune of N500 million as alleged.  Recall thatNwaoboshi, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC, had accused the minister  of securing the distilling and water Hyacinth Contracts without executing them. The  minister who will not take it had rubbished the claim by the Senate Investigative Committee on the NDDC, that the Commission mismanaged N40 billion between 2019 and 2020.

The situation in NNDC , has become  very worrisome in the recent time  that Itse Sagay, a Professor and Chairman,  Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC,  has asked  the  President  to remove all the Board members of the Commission and inject fresh hands.

 NNDC: Akbabio And Joy Nunieh Uending Dirty Fight

By Stephen Ubanna and Emmanuel Ufot

Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom state,  Senator of Federal Republic of Nigeria and now minister of ministry of Niger Delta has a big task at hand: to convince Nigerians that the damning  allegations of Fraud and interference in the management of the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, levelled against him by Joy Nunieh, a former Managing Director of the Commission were false.

Nunieh,  had told Journalists at the Senate ad-hoc Investigative hearing on NNDC  that Akpabio had ‘’engineered her removal from office by President Muhammadu Buhari because she could not do his billings .                                                                                                     

The allegations of fraud and counter-allegations of fraud between the duo  may have informed  why the Ahmad Lawan led  Senate had  set up a seven-man ad-hoc  Committee to Investigate  the alleged financial  recklessness of the NDDC I,nterim Management  Committee, IMC,  to the tune of N40 billion.

 The Senate ad-hoc Committee Investigative hearing  may have provided AN opportunity for Nunieh, the former NDDC , boss, to  open up on Akapbio. An aggrieved Nunieh had alluded to the fact that on the day of going for their inauguration, the Akwa Ibom state born politician had  told  her  in the car that,’’ madam MD, that if you don’t do what I say, the same pen with which I used  to  sign your appointment letter,  will be  the same pen that  I will use to remove you’’. She disclosed that the first ministerial order the minister gave to her was that when she gets to PortHarcourt , I should change the dollars in the NDDC account. ’’I  was scared  to do that ‘’, she remarked.

 She  disclosed that the minister came to the oil city , two days after the inauguration, and still enjoined her to ensure she change the dollars in the Commission’s Account and also remove Alhaji Kaltungo, a Lawyer and to Head of the legal Team by sending  him on Compulsory retirement.  ’’We cannot have a northerner be the Head of the legal Unit’’, she claimed the minister had said.  The minister has denied the allegations, stressing that as a governor of Akwa Ibom state, he used his position to fight for the interest of northerners in the state.

 Nunieh, who was out to do battle with Akpabio, had said that he told her to remove the other Directors in the Commission  who  refused to take his instructions during the time of  Mrs. Akwagaga Enyia in 2019 .   She  may have shocked Nigerians  when she told members of the Committee that the minister demanded  $1 million  from the Commission to use for his Christmas.

 More revealing was the damning  accusations  that the NDDC   Headquarters has remained unconnected to the national grid because the girlfriend  is the major supplier of the diesel used to power the agency generating sets. She claimed that she had made a case  for  the diesel supply Contract to the agency  to be handed over  to the young boys in the nine states of the Niger Delta region but the minister will not take it. 

 The former NDDC boss  said the minister who had visited the NNDC Corporate Headquarters in PortHarcourt  had come with a draft  letter  which she had earlier  submitted  to the Senate  ad-hoc Committee requesting that ‘’ I should write and put it on  my  letter head implicating Peter Nwaoboshi, Chairman , Senate Committee on NNDC,  of collecting contracts from the Intervention agency. ‘’ I refused to do it because as a Lawyer whoever alleges must have a proof’’, she  has said. She disclosed that  the minister took offence for her action,  accusing  her of being ’’ungrateful’’. 

  The crisis of Confidence between the duo  was said to have started   when she refused to sign the covering  letter which she said  was basically to avoid giving  the impression to the President that all the information contained in the petition alleging that Senator Nwaoboshi   was collecting contracts from NDDC was true. Instead of signing the covering letter ,  she was said   to have sent a letter to the Committee stating that Cairo Ojuogboh,  Executive Director who should know  about projects has left NDDC.

But a school of thought said the frosty relationship between the duo started when the minister took the the decision   to go ahead with the forensic  audit on the activities  of the Commission when he assumed office. The forensic audit which was okayed  by the Katsina state born Nigerian President was said to have exposed the gross mismanagement of funds in the intervention agency which may have led to the removal of Nuneh.

 In anger, she had accused Akpabio of collecting  30 contracts for the distilling and   water Hyacinth. She had said that the  contracts were awarded when the former oil –rich Akwa Ibom state governor and Festus Keyamo, a Lawyer and minister of State , ministry of Niger Delta,  had their first meeting with the Management at the Commission  in Port Harcourt.

Apparently to avoid  being  roped into the fraud, she had said that Linus, the  then Executive  Director, Finance, had refused to sign the Contract documents  because it did not follow the due process.  According to her the budget approved  for the distilling and water Hyacinth contracts was between N3 billion and N5 billion.

She may have shocked  Nigerians  when  she said the minister also asked  her to implicate the Chairman of House Committee on NDDC who had gone to  Ondo, his home state for a meeting  to plot  against him.  She noted that before her assumption of office, the Commission had over stretched its financial limit  with about N50 billion for distilling and water Hyacinth Contracts alone.

 The financial  situationof the Commission  was so bad  that the  National Assembly was said to have sent a strongly worded letter to it, advising the Intervention agency never to stop  any further  payment on distilling and water Hyacinth contracts. Nunieh major worry in the Commission  was  that Akapbabio never signs any  document but would push you to commit fraud.

She cited a Memo which  the  minister had asked  her to raise  in order to award  an emergency contract for flood victims. She claimed that the minister  had also directed her to include  projects  from the Refuge Commission in the list of the projects to be executed by the agency in the 201 9 budget.  She had said that the minister had wanted her to  swear an oath of secrecy when she turned down.

 She has her reason for doing so.  ‘’How do I  put some of the projects of the Refuge Commission on the NDDC budget when we have many unexecuted projects in the region’’, she had querried.   She noted that the relationship between Akabio and her office was getting  so bad that they had a reconciliation meeting in the office of Sariki Abba, at the Presidential Villa but that was how far they could go. Abba is the Special Assistant to the President on Domestics Affairs.

While appearing  at the Senate probe ad-hoc Committee, the Rivers state born former NDDC  Managing Director had made other damning allegations against the minister.  One of the allegations was the mismanagement of the agency N40 billion fund.

 Critics see the dirty fight between Nunieh, a former political Appointtee and Managing Director of NNDC and Akpabio , as a show of shame. Akpabio who will not want his  hard earned name to be rubbished by any political Appointee  was said to have told the Senate Investigative Committee on NNDC, that he never requested  and executed the Commission’s Contracts to the tune of N500 million as alleged.  Recall thatNwaoboshi, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC, had accused the minister  of securing the distilling and water Hyacinth Contracts without executing them. The  minister who will not take it had rubbished the claim by the Senate Investigative Committee on the NDDC, that the Commission mismanaged N40 billion between 2019 and 2020.

The situation in NNDC , has become  very worrisome in the recent time  that Itse Sagay, a Professor and Chairman,  Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC,  has asked  the  President  to remove all the Board members of the Commission and inject fresh hands.

Itsay, who could not hide his feelings had said that ’’ the allegations of Corruption in the agency is mind boggling and wondered why  the forensic  auditing  of the Commission cannot be done despite having a regular board manning the affairs of the Commission. The Professor said he has been vindicated in his Opposition to two nominees who were appointed to the Commission board by the President.

Itsay, who could not hide his feelings had said that ’’ the allegations of Corruption in the agency is mind boggling and wondered why  the forensic  auditing  of the Commission cannot be done despite having a regular board manning the affairs of the Commission. The Professor said he has been vindicated in his Opposition to two nominees who were appointed to the Commission board by the President.

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