NDDC probe: What Pondei said before collapsing

TRACKING____Acting Managing Director (MD) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Daniel Pondei has said he does not want to lie under oath, but that he will provide answers.

Tracknews Online reports Pondei stated this before fainting during the probe in reply to grilling by the House of Representatives committee on how he got authorization to spend N1.32bn for COVID-19 palliatives.

The acting NDDC MD had earlier corrected a committee member on the exact figure of the COVID-19 intervention figure. “N1.32bn, not N1.5bn,” Pondei said.

Pondei started to lay out his defense, and according to him, scholarship payments are being processed.

“The forensic audit is ongoing. I won’t comment on that. The NDDC doesn’t have jurisdiction over the audit. We only provide the necessary documents for it.

“We promoted staff when we came in because morale was low,” he said.

He describes the allegations made against him as a media trial.

Hon. Thomas Ereyi-Tobi, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee, gives Prof. Pondei the green light to “go ahead with your presentation.”

“We should be allowed to debunk the allegations made against us,” Pondei says.

Earlier, he also said the NDDC, under his management, has not awarded a single scholarship.

Several students abroad have accused the NDDC of abandoning its financial obligations towards them.

The House Committee has said they asked the Acting MD, Pondei, to submit 41 documents. Instead, he submitted four.

Prof Pondei started by defending NDDC spending under his management, saying most of the spending was used to settle expenses incurred by past administrations.

Committee members had discussed whether to commence by grilling Pondei or allow him to make a presentation.

The Acting NDDC MD took his oath before the Committee before he stated to speak.

He regretted the events of the previous week when he walked out on the committee.

Chairman of the Committee, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, had to step down from the hearing after allegations of corruption were directed against him.

The NDDC acting Managing Director, Pondei, had walked out of the hearing last week accusing Mr. Tunji Ojo of being an interested party in the probe