Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has denied referring to members of the National Assembly as the greatest beneficiaries of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) contracts.
Akpabio made the sudden U-turn in letter addressed to the House of Representatives on Thursday.
This comes almost at the same time the House of Representatives resolved to sue the minister following the expiration of a 48-hour ultimatum to name the beneficiaries.
Recall that the former Akwa Ibom State governor had caused an uproar on Monday with the allegation while responding to questions from the House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee investigating the activities of the agency.
Making his presentations, the minister asked: “Who are even the greatest beneficiaries of the contracts? It’s you people at the National Assembly.”
A female lawmaker interrupted him, saying: “Can I ask you a question? What is the National Assembly benefiting from NDDC?”
The minister responded: “I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly, but you don’t know about it.
“The two chairmen can explain to you. I was a member of the NDDC committee, so I know about it. We cannot close down NDDC because of the fact that we are doing (a) forensic audit.
“The NDDC plays a vital role in ensuring peace and security of the region and 90 per cent or more of the resources of the country come from there.”
Details later.
