NDDC Probe: PDP Recommends Akpabio's Suspension As Police, Wike Set For Showdown

Rivers Police Asks Wike To Hand over Nunieh For Investigation
Court Restrains Police, Others From Arresting Nunieh
Akpabio Threatens Legal Action Against Former NDDC Boss

By Joseph Obukuta & Kolawole Ojebisi

Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has told President Muhammadu Buhari to perish the thoughts that his Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godswill Akpabio and the current Intetrim Management Committee of the NDDC would be able to midwife a transparent forensic audit of the commission.

The PDP, said that until Akpabio is either suspended or redeployed, Buhari’s forensic audit of NDDC would continue to be a smoke screen designed to placate Nigerians, saying that Akpabio’s immediate suspension following the huge fraud allegations against him in the most reported corruption saga rocking the NDDC is the only way out.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had in a recent statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, ordered speedy and coordinated investigation of the NDDC following reports of huge corruption scandal rocking the agency which had triggered a series of drama, blames, and counter-accusations among stakeholders.

According to President Buhari, the coordinated investigation would ensure that the administration’s effort to bring sanity, transparency and accountability to the management of the large amount of resources dedicated to development of the Niger Delta sub-region is not derailed.

Shehu quoted President Buhari as saying that he was determined to get to the root of the problem undermining the development of the Niger Delta and its peoples in spite of enormous national resources voted year after year for this singular purpose”.

According to the directive, auditing firms and investigative agencies working in collaboration with National Assembly Committees to resolve the challenges in the NDDC must initiate actions in a time-bound manner and duly inform the Presidency of the actions being taken.

But the PDP, in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologboniyan, said that nothing tangible would come out of the forensic audit ordered by Buhari if the NDDC IMC and Akpabio continue to supervise the exercise.

Following this, the party called on President Buhari to immediately disband the corruption ridden Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC where officials have been fingered to engage in unbridled looting of funds meant for the development of the area.

The PDP says with the unearthing of rampant corruption, treasury looting, recklessness and manifest public unruliness of the NDDC management, the Minister and the IMC have become a huge embarrassment not only to the Buhari administration but also to the Niger Delta region and the nation at large.

The party insisted that though President Buhari has ordered a “speedy and coordinated investigation” of the activities of the NDDC management, such an important probe cannot yield any credible result as long as Senator Akpabio and indicted IMC are still in charge in the commission.

The PDP stated that the immediate suspension of the minister and members of the IMC is the only way to ensure that such individuals do not interfere with investigations or tamper with vital documents.

The party believes that the suspension should be a prelude to unhindered investigation and prosecution of all those indicted in the wholesale fraud in the NDDC which has hindered the commission from delivering its mandate to the people of the Niger Delta region under the current administration.

“Our party invites President Buhari to note that already, there are manifest efforts to frustrate investigations into the NDDC activities as witnessed in the attempt to abduct and silence the whistle blower, former acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Joi Nunieh, to prevent her from further exposing the alleged corrupt conduct of the embattled minister and the IMC”.

The PDP stated that Nigerians are also aware of the condemnable conduct of the current acting Managing Director of the indicted IMC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, who walked out on the House of Representatives committee investigating the corruption in the NDDC, ostensibly to frustrate the speedy and coordinated audit of the activities of the IMC.

The main opposition party, in a strong term, also condemned the invasion of Ms. Nunieh’s residence by security operatives in an apparent attempt to abduct her on the alleged orders from above and urged the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to fish out all those behind the ugly incidence.

The PDP also urges the IGP to provide adequate protection for Ms. Nunieh and other witnesses in the probe from the corrupt cabal in the NDDC who have shown to be desperate to silence witnesses in order to cover their trails.

The Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Joseph Mukan has called on Governor Nyesom Wike to hand over former NDDC MD, Nunieh to him.

The New Diplomat had reported that Wike whisked Nunieh away to the government house, following the police invasion of her residence.

While in the refuge of the Rivers State government house, Nunieh claimed the policemen didn’t have arrest warrant.

Governor Wike had also condemned the police for the attempted arrest, adding that the Inspector General of Police and the state Commissioner of police were not aware of the move.

But briefing newsmen at his office in Port Harcourt Friday, Mukan called on the governor to handover Nunieh to him, noting that the latter was under investigation.

He further said that the policemen from the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit were endorsed by the Rivers State Police Command before proceeding to the residence of the ex-NDDC boss.

The Command further said the exercise was legitimate and in tandem with the law, decrying the action of the governor as unfortunate

“It is really unfortunate because under normal circumstance if His Excellency (Wike) is saying that he went to rescue her, he is supposed to turn her over to me because I am the Commissioner of Police on ground and I will be in a better position to take her than for him to take her to Government House.

“Nobody said he should not protect his citizens, but everything should be done within the confines of the law.

“So if you rescue your citizen, we expect you to turn her over to the police who are in a better position to protect her. I still believe he is going to turn her over because the exercise was legitimate. It was within the confines of the law.”

Joi Nunieh had alleged that Akpabio orchestrated her foiled arrest by the police, Gov. Wike wasn’t that categorical.

The circumstance that led to invasion of the former NDDC MD and the back-and-forth claims might turn out to be a showdown pitting Akpabio and Police against Nunieh and Wike.

Recall that prior to the development at Nunieh residence on Thursday, Wike, through his Commissioner for Information, had vowed the state would “protect her daughter from harm“.

He reiterated this while addressing newsmen after he had foiled the attempt to arrest Nunieh.

Meanwhile, Nunieh is not leaving anything to chances as she had made a legal move to forestall arrest.

A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has restrained the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement agencies from arresting the former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Joy Nunieh.

Justice E. Thompson on Friday granted an ex-parte order in an application filed by her counsel, Slyvester Adaka, marked, PHC/1128/2020.

Thompson, also restrained the Niger Delta Development Commission or any other body from arresting Nunieh, pending the hearing and determination of the matter before the court.

In a similar vein, following Nunieh’s fresh allegations against him on Friday before the House committee on NDDC and her insistence on those she had earlier made before the Senate; Godswill Akpabio has threatened to sue the former NDDC boss for allegedly defaming his character.

This threat was contained in a statement titled, “Akpabio to sue Joy Nunieh for defamation, denies ‘false allegations’,” signed by his special assistant, Anietie Ekong, in Abuja, on Friday, said the minister has already instructed his lawyers to seek legal redress.

Ekong described Joy’s allegations against his principal as tissues of lies noting that at no time did the minister make advances towards her.

The statement read in part, “The Honourable Minister’s initial attitude was to allow his lawyers and the judicial system vindicate him of the false allegations against him, but he is compelled to react to some of the wayward allegations levied against his person by Ms. Nunieh, especially the one bothering on sexual harassment.

“To start with, let it be known that there is no scintilla of truth in all the allegations peddled around by Ms. Nunieh. They are simply false.

“The Honourable Minister did not at any time, place or circumstance make any form of sexual advances to Ms. Nunieh, not even to put himself in a position or posture suggestive of sexual advances towards Ms. Nunieh, or any female staff of his Ministry or the NDDC.

“For the records, the Honourable Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON is happily married and contented with his wife. Together they are blessed with children, four (4) of whom are young women.

“The Honourable Minister is an avid believer of the Affirmative Action and that was visible in the appointments he made as a two (2) term Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State between 2007 and 2015.

“Under his watch, he appointed several women into various high-level positions as chairpersons of Local Government Councils, Magistrates, Judges, Heads of Parastatals, Directors, Permanent Secretaries, and Commissioners,” Akpabio said.

NDDC Probe: PDP Recommends Akpabio’s Suspension As Police, Wike Set For Showdown