… says ‘I respect my wife, Ekaete’
THE Minister of Niger Delta, Godswill Akpabio, has described the allegation of sexual harassment against him by a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Joy Nunieh, as nauseating.
The Minister said in a statement by his Media Aide, Anietie Ekong, that he was a happily married man that would never put himself in a position suggestive of sexual harassment as alleged by the ex-NDDC boss.
Nunieh had, in a recent interview with journalists, accused Akpabio of corruption, sexual and workplace harassments, pipeline bombings, secret cult activities, and abuse of office, among others.
But the minister has replied, saying there is no iota of truth in the allegations as enumerated by Nunieh.
He said, “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.”
According to the statement, the minister is an avid believer of the Affirmative Action and that is 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 Commissioner,” it said.
The statement noted that Akpabio was the first Governor in Akwa Ibom State to have a female Deputy Governor, and was also the first to appoint female Chief Justices of the High Court.
He said, “He recommended women for ministerial appointments, one of whom was the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, and supported for an appointment, the first female Vice-Chancellor of the only Federal University in the State etc.
“He has always championed and still champions the cause of women and children.”
The statement added that Akpabio also stopped modern-day slavery in his state, where young women and children had been ferried away from the state to other states in Nigeria to be used for all sorts of menial chores as housemaids and most suffered unimaginable unethical trade malpractices and maltreatments.
It said, “He ensured that anyone caught in that trade was severely punished. He signed the Child Rights Law to protect children, especially the girl child from stigmatisation and punishment by ordeal where some were executed or banished on allegation of witchcraft.
“The Child Rights Law also made primary and secondary education in Akwa Ibom State free and compulsory; educating the girl child was his topmost priority.”
The statement said categorically that Akpabio had never taken his admiration and respect for his wife, Ekaete Akpabio, children and sisters with levity, noting that he therefore felt compelled to react to the malicious attack on his person by Nunieh.
The statement said, “The Honourable Minister, therefore, finds the said allegation nauseating and very cheap blackmail, for Ms. Nunieh to suggest or insinuate that he sexually harassed her, while she was the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC.
“The Honourable Minister also finds it appalling that Ms. Nunieh, never deemed it fit to report the alleged incident to the police at the earliest opportunity she had, before, during, or after her tenor as the Acting Managing Director on 17th February 2020, if indeed the allegation was true.”
According to Akpabio, waiting till July 10th and 13th 2020, “when the National Assembly appears to be probing some of her actions as the Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee (“IMC”) exposes her motive, especially at a time when the momentum for the Forensic Audit Investigation of the NDDC is heating up and the truth is about to be unveiled for all to see? The critical question is who is afraid of the Forensic Audit at the NDDC? Who is Afraid of the Truth?”
The Minister said Nunieh’s attacks were both personal and sponsored, saying those afraid of the truth, and who wish to bury it from seeing the light of the day, were strenuously behind Nunieh’s vicious campaign of calumny.
