Nwaoboshi reacts to Akpabio’s list, says allegation is only a blackmail

TRACKING___Senator Peter Nwaboshi, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, has reacted to the list earlier published by the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Daily Times gathered in a statement released on Monday, July 27, Nwaoboshi described the allegation that he was awarded 53 contracts by the Niger Delta Development Commission in 2018 as false.

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He alleged that Akpabio was deliberately blackmailing him to divert public attention from the alleged serious mismanagement of the NDDC by the Interim Management Committee under his supervision.

Nwaoboshi charged Akpabio to send details of the projects listed against his name to the anti-graft agencies in the country if he was sure of his facts.

Nwaoboshi said, “I wish to state unequivocally that this allegation has no bearing with the truth and challenge Mr Akpabio to send the so-called list to anti-graft and other security agencies if he can substantiate the apparently baseless allegation.

“Indeed I would have made further comments but for the fact that the matter is currently before two competent courts of law.

“However, suffice it to say that this unsubstantiated allegation is in line with Mr Akpabio’s well-known agenda to continuously blackmail me so as to keep diverting public attention from the serious mismanagement of the NDDC by the Interim Management Committee under his supervision and under the guise of a phantom forensic audit that has no operating timeline.

“My advice to Mr Akpabio and the IMC is to focus their energy on explaining to Nigerians how they spent a whopping N81.5bn within a period of five months”

Nwaoboshi alleged that IMC spent N58m on refreshment/logistics for project verification paid to IMC and staff of the agency.

“They were expended with the approval of Mr Akpabio on mundane and useless projects that have no developmental impact on the life and livelihood of the Niger Delta people as envisioned by the founding fathers of the NDDC.

“Mr Akpabio and his IMC should apologise to the Niger Delta people in particular and Nigerians in general for this grand wastage arising from their crass incompetence.

“As a realist, I am confident that a day will come when Mr. Akpabio and his IMC will have a date with the law.

“I will in the meantime express my unwavering commitment to improving the lots of our people in the Niger Delta, supporting quality legislation in the National Assembly, and working for a society every Nigerian can be proud of.

“This is my mission in politics and I would not be distracted by the antics of political mudslingers and their agents,’’ Nwaboshi said.