NDDC, in a statement
by its spokesperson, Charles Odili, on Sunday, said Peter Nwaoboshi, a serving
senator, used 11 companies as fronts to secure for himself N3.6 billion
contract in September 2016.
Mr Odili said, in
the statement, that the contract was the “biggest single case of looting of the
Commission’s resources”.
Mr Nwaoboshi is a
Peoples Democratic Party senator representing Delta North District, Delta
State. He is the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta and the
NDDC.
The disclosure from
the NDDC management is a response, apparently, to a revelation by Mr Nwaoboshi
a few days ago that Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, had
inserted N500 million worth of projects for himself in the 2017 budget of the
NDDC while he was the Senate minority leader.
Mr Akpabio, a former
governor of Akwa Ibom state, represented Akwa Ibom North-West District in the
eighth Senate. Apart from being a minority leader, Mr Akpabio was a member of
the Senate Committee on NDDC at the time.
There have been
corruption accusations and counter-accusations between the Senate and Mr
Akpabio for some months now.
The rift between the
two heightened when the Senate and the House of Representatives passed a
resolution in May to probe the allegation that the NDDC’s Interim Management
Committee squandered N40 billion within three months.
Mr Akpabio claims
that the people who are after him are those who are against the planned
forensic audit of the NDDC.
As the minister of
Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Akpabio supervises the NDDC.
The commission, by
the statement it has issued, is obviously siding with Mr Akpabio against Mr
Nwaoboshi and the Senate.
“We believe that
until Senator Nwaoboshi can absolve himself of his role in the looting of the
resources of the Commission, he should step aside from any investigative
activity against the Commission,” the NDDC said in the statement.
The NDDC said it has
searched through its records and that there was no evidence the commission
awarded any contract to Mr Akpabio or any company associated with him.
“From our findings, the person who has questions to answer to the Niger Delta People is Senator Nwaoboshi,” the commission said in the statement.
The NDDC listed the 11
companies which it said Senator Nwaoboshi allegedly used to get the N3.6
billion contract as follows:
Noan Integrated
Services;
ii. De Towers Constructions & Allied Services Ltd;
iii. Franstine Nigeria
Enterprises;
iv. Edrihide Company;
v. Isumabe U.K. Global;
vi. Benchmark Construction &
Allied Services Ltd
vii. Millstone Allied Builders
Ltd.;
viii. Nelpat Nigeria Company;
ix. Agh-Rown Ventures;
x. Edendoma
Stars International; and
xi. Antlers
Construction and Allied Works Ltd.
PREMIUM
TIMES could not immediately confirm the ownership of the companies.
The
commission’s statement did not, however, mention whether the N3.6 billion contract
was a single contract or whether there were multiple contracts awarded to the
11 companies.
“The
inventory records show that these items were supplied and received on Senator
Nwaoboshi’s business premises and warehouse.
“However,
some of the items supplied to Nwaoboshi’s warehouse through his cronies, were
later resold to the Delta state government, while the others were sold to other
states through contracts awarded to him.
“All supply
agreements were signed by one and the same person being Mr. Agbamuche Nelson,
traceable to Senator Nwaoboshi.
“This is in
flagrant contravention of section 58(4) (a) and (d) of the Public Procurement
Act. No wonder Sen. Nwaoboshi and his cohorts are jittery about the ongoing
forensic audit exercise in the NDDC and are doing everything possible to derail
it,” the statement said.
The
disclosure by the NDDC management could very well be an indictment on the
commission itself, as it raises questions on its own procurement process, as
well as a confirmation of the belief held by many Nigerians that the commission
is one of the most corrupt federal agencies in Nigeria and has served no real
value to the people of the oil-rich region.
Mr Akpabio
in October 2019 said the NDDC was so corrupt that people were treating it like
an ATM “where you just walk in there to go and pluck money and go away”.
The disclosure by the NDDC could also be a signal that Mr Akpabio is ready for a long, dirty fight with the Senate, which he was once part of.
Mr
Nwaoboshi told PREMIUM TIMES, Monday morning, that the NDDC’s statement was
merely an attempt to distract the public from the main issue which is the
National Assembly’s probe of the N40 billion corruption allegation against the
interim management of the commission.
Mr
Nwaoboshi said the NDDC’s statement is an indictment on the commission itself,
since “a senator does not award a contract”.
The claims
made by the commission, the senator said, are false. He said he has no
relationship with the 11 companies mentioned by NDDC and that he has not had
any contract with the Delta State government since 2014 before he became a
senator nor has he ties with any company that has received contracts from the
Delta government.
PREMIUM
TIMES asked the senator about his relationship with Agbamuche Nelson whom the
NDDC said has been working as a front for him.
“He
(Agbamuche Nelson) has issued a statement long ago, it is not for me to reply
for him. He has told people that he is a Nigerian and has been doing contracts
for NDDC since 2012,” the senator responded.
“I don’t award contracts. They are only indicting themselves.
“It is a
desperate attempt to save Akpabio. My allegation that Akpabio asked for
N500million contracts is unchallenged. I say it again and again, Akpabio wrote
to me to include N500 million contracts (in the NDDC budget) for him. The
letter is there. All this one they are dancing around, trying to save Akpabio
is a waste of effort.”
On the NDDC’s demand that he excludes himself from any panel
that is investigating the commission, Mr Nwaoboshi said, “I am not even a
member of the ad hoc committee that is investigating their financial
recklessness”.
0 Comments