The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has alleged that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, in connivance with some persons, paid the sum of N20 billion to ghost contractors for a phony distilling contract purportedly awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The council said information at its disposal showed that the signatures of a former acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Professor Nelson Brambaifa, and the commission’s former executive director (projects), Samuel Ajugbe, were allegedly forged to carry out the sleazy process.

A spokesman for the IYC, Ebilade Ekerefe, who spoke in Yenagoa on Friday, alleged that the phantom NDDC contractors were paid between N300 million and N400 million in the last three months, amounting to N20 billion.

He urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to launch an investigation into the alleged huge payment to the ghost contractors.

Ekerefe also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the Interim Administrator of the NDDC, Effiong Akwa, to pave the way for a thorough probe of the illegal deal.

He said, “They should investigate the financial traction of the commission in the months under review. We have also discovered that out of the N20billion paid out illegally by the NDDC, 60 per cent is going to Abuja through the Bureau de Change while he (Akpabio) has failed to pay the genuine contractors that have finished the projects awarded by the commission. He even hired thugs to chase away protesting contractors. We have resolved to mobilise and launch reprisals against those hired thugs and invade the homes of those that hired them.”

Ekerefe stated that the ugly deal had vindicated Niger Delta youths who expressed mistrust over the suspicious manner the minister had handled the forensic audit of the NDDC and the reluctance of Buhari to constitute a substantive board for the interventionist agency.

He noted that the allayed illegal payment of ghost companies was done in a way that the payments would end up in the hands of bureau de change operators in Abuja as part of plans for the presidential ambition of Akpabio in 2023.

The Ijaw youths said, “Instead of ensuring that the socio-economic activities of the region pick up through the setting up of the substantive board of the NDDC, Akpabio is busy conniving with ghost companies to divert fake payments to Bureau De Change operators in Abuja under distilling jobs.

“What are the benefits of distilling jobs? We have also discovered that they have collaborators in the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

“President Muhammadu Buhari should rise up to this occasion and clear the “corruption” toga tied around his administration due to the numerous unresolved high profile fraud cases allegedly perpetuated by Ministers under his administration.

“If the President, Muhammadu Buhari, and those in the presidency cannot investigate the allegation brought forward by the council, it means they are all involved in the ongoing fraud in the NDDC,” he added.

(Daily Independent)

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