In less than 24 hours after the Nigerian media had gone to town with the story of Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio’s disclosure of names of National Assembly lawmakers who were involved in contract scam at the Commission, one of the accused lawmakers, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi representing Delta North Senatorial District, has fiercely reacted in an attempt to clear his name.
In a press conference addressed on Monday in his Constituency office, Nwaoboshi’s Legislative Assistant; Mr. Awele Anokwai said the essence of the conference “is to address the allegations credited to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, where he, alleged (in a letter to the Speaker, House of Representatives) that about 53 NDDC contracts were executed by Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi between the years 2017 and 2019.
According to Anokwai “ordinarily, we would have waived these allegations with the left hand but because silence could connote consent, it is pertinent that we set the records straight for the sake of posterity and for the greater sake of the unsuspecting general public, who may be hoodwinked into believing the several lies constantly churned up by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in an attempt to ridicule and undermine the probe by the National Assembly into the financial activities of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC.”
Reacting to the Minister’s allegation, Nwaoboshi’s spokesman said “We make bold to state categorically, the following:
“Since his election into the Nigerian Senate as the Senator representing the good people of Niger Delta, Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has, at no time whatsoever, executed any contract for or on behalf of the NDDC.”
“The 53 contracts allegedly listed to have been executed by Nwaoboshi were awarded to different companies and we believe these companies must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a federal parastatal charged with the responsibility of overseeing the existence of corporate entities in Nigeria.”
“As a matter of fact, he who alleges must prove and it is on this sacred maxim that we are challenging the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to liaise with the Corporate Affairs Commission to publish, for public consumption, the names of Shareholders as well as Board Of Directors of the companies that executed the repairs of the purported 53 contracts awarded to Senator Nwaoboshi.”
Speaking further, the Legislative aide said: “On several instances, Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi has publicly challenged his detractors to publish their facts for the general public and up until this very moment, none has been able to provide water-tight prove or evidence in their failed attempts to implicate Nwaoboshi. “
“As far as Senator Peter Nwaoboshi is concerned, his hands are clean. He is neither a staff of the NDDC nor is he saddled with the responsibility of paying contractors and it becomes extremely mischievous of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to try and drag the reputation of the esteemed Lawmaker in negative lights.”
He asserted that it has become highly instructive for the general public to be wary of the incoherent nature of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and his acolytes planted in the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC.
“Initially, these inglorious liars told Nigerians and the world that a seating Senator was awarded 1,000 contracts in the NDDC and when pressed to shed some light on such weighty accusation, they recanted to 350 contracts and when further quizzed, it suddenly became 53 contracts. The level of inconsistency of the Minister and his stooges at the IMC is quite alarming and legendary and Nigerians can see the desperate but failed attempt by them to cover their tracks but then, lies have short legs, they don’t travel far,” he remarked.
Given the foregoing scenario, Nwaoboshi has therefore challenged Godswill Akpabio to account for the over N81bn he has so far misappropriated at the NDDC and stop diverting the attention of the general public.
“If Senator Godswill Akpabio feels there are incriminating issues which need to be addressed, we urge him to go to the relevant security agencies as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger Delta is absolutely committed to discharging his legislative and oversight functions as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) much to the admiration of his constituents and Nigerians at large.”
Senator Nwaoboshi has vowed that no amount of paid media campaign of calumny against his person or office will take his feet off the gas as he is determined to serve Nigerians.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/nddc-akpabio-is-a-serial-liar-says-nwaoboshi/
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