By Abiola Olawale
Godswill Akpabio, the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, is set to face the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) panel over allegations that he bribed some officials of the CCB.
Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State was reported to have allegedly paid N100 million to bribe the officials of the CCB in a bid to stop the probe of Effiong Okon Akwa, the Sole Administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), over his asset declaration.
Ehiozuwa Johnson Agbonayinma, a Federal Commissioner of CCB, disclosed this on Monday during a press conference with journalists in Abuja.
Agbonayinma, who heads a sub-committee investigating the case, said the minister has been invited to narrate his side of the story on the bribery allegations levied against him by one Jackson Ude.
He further stated that the committee was not set up to witch-hunt the minister, but rather to defend the Constitution on Nigeria.
In his words, “We have been given a mandate by the bureau to investigate the allegation against some officials of CCB that we saw on social media. Let me be specific, one Mr Jackson Ude twitted, and it went viral, that money was given to some officials of CCB by Akpabio. Because of that, a committee to investigate the allegation was set up, with myself as the chairman. The committee is not to witch-hunt anyone but to do its job of defending the constitution of Nigeria.
“We invited Akpabio, who in his wisdom, came to give his side of the story. At the moment, we cannot pass judgement as the investigation is still in progress. All the accused parties remain innocent until the investigation is over.”
Recall that Prof. Mohammed Isah, the Chairman of CCB, had ordered the investigation of Akpabio and some officials of the Bureau over N100m bribery allegations.
The investigation centres on alleged bribery of some officials of the CCB by Akpabio to stop the probe of Akwa, over his failure to declare his asset.
