FORMER Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, and the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Kemebradikumo Pondei.
Fayose, who made the call on Friday through his verified Twitter handle, said failure to act would reinforce “the conclusion that he (President Buhari) supports corruption.”
He noted that the President could not continue using the fight against corruption as an instrument of persecution against opposition figures or treating the looting of public treasury as a family affair.
“With this level of fraud exposed in NDDC, Buhari must sack Akpabio now. The President can’t continue to treat the looting of public treasury as a family affair and his fight against corruption as an instrument of persecution against opposition figures,” Fayose tweeted.
“By keeping in his government the likes of Akpabio and the NDDC MD, Prof Pondei, who went about celebrating the success of their National Assembly drama with hot pepper soup and assorted drinks, the President will only be reinforcing the conclusion that he supports corruption,” he added.
Meanwhile, there had been a fake report on the dissolution of the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC circulating on social media, which the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, debunked on Friday.
Adesina said, “A statement purportedly signed by me has been making the rounds that the Federal Government has dissolved the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC.
“Merchants of fake news in action. The communication did not emanate from the media office of the President. Please ignore.”
The multi-billion naira corruption scandal rocking the NDDC had taken different dimensions since the opening of the probe of the commission’s activities by the House of Representatives.
There had been allegations and counter-allegations, culminating in the invasion of the home of the former Managing Director of the Commission, Joi Nunieh, the collapse of the Acting Managing Director, Kemebradikumo Pondei, and the doublespeak by Akpabio on contract beneficiaries.
The House of Representatives had, on Thursday, resolved to sue the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, for alleged perjury and civil defamation.
The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, had, on Tuesday, kicked against the minister’s allegation, during a hearing on alleged corruption in the Niger Delta Development Commission, that members of the House were partners in the controversial contracts tied to the probe.
Gbajabiamila, in reaction to the allegation gave Akpabio 48 hours to name lawmakers who benefitted from the said contracts.
But Akpabio, on the same day, made a U-turn, saying he was misconstrued.
According to him, he only referred to past contracts and mentioned 60 per cent only in response to a question asked on whether it was proper for a medical doctor to be an Executive Director, Projects, in NDDC.
