Femi Gbajabiamila
MINISTER of Niger-Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, has named lawmakers who got contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
From observation, the names of the lawmakers were attached to the letter the minister sent to the House of Representatives.
The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) which presented the document to the media in Abuja yesterday expressed disappointment that Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, allegedly refused to disclose the names of federal lawmakers who benefited from the contracts awarded by the NDDC as attached.
Gbajabiamila, had given him 48 hours to name the lawmakers who got the contracts or face the wrath of the house.
Investigation further revealed that when Gbajabiamila read Akpabio’s letter on the floor of the house on Thursday, he did not mention that there was a list of contract beneficiaries attached to the letter.
While appearing before a house panel probing the alleged mismanagement of N81.5 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the commission, Akpabio had said federal lawmakers were the biggest beneficiaries of the contracts awarded by the commission.
Peter Nwaoboshi, senate committee chairman on NDDC; Matthew Urhoghide, senate committee chairman on public accounts, and James Manager, senator representing Delta South, were reportedly listed as beneficiaries.
Sam Anyanwu, a former senator representing Imo east, and the former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC, Mr Nicholas Mutu, who represents the Bomadi/Patani Federal Constituency of Delta State, are among those linked by the minister with contracts. Mutu currently chairs the house committee on gas resources.
While Nwaoboshi’s name was tied to 53 projects, Mutu was said to have got 74 contracts.
Urhoghide, Manager and Anyanwu were said to have got 31 contracts in total.
However, there were no costs attached to the contracts said to have been awarded to these legislators.
President of NYCN, Solomon Adodo, said that the Speaker’s decision to cover up his colleagues is unfair to the fight against corruption, quest for transparency, and to the commonwealth of our nation, and therefore called for his resignation.
“Mr. Speaker did not do us justice when he did not disclose to the National Assembly that the list of the beneficiaries he demanded had been attached to the letter sent to him.”
“We, therefore, urge Gbajabiamila to resign for covering up for a set of people who had erred and breached the rules of contract.
“All the National Assembly members who benefited from the contracts without executing them should be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to those who may want to follow a similar path.
“It is a clear case of organised crime to have individuals who benefited from illegality now rising to probe the fact that their illegality is being exposed.
“We call on all the anti-graft agencies and security agencies to, in line with the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, immediately investigate the matter”, Adodo said.
The youths gave their solidarity to the forensic audit instituted by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs saying it had exposed the height of corruption that had reigned in the NDDC.