The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has exonerated Godswill Akpabio from the preparation of the released list of beneficiaries of NDDC contracts, stating that the list has been in existence since 2018 and it is authentic.
The released list has been generating a lot of heat as some of the politicians indicted have denied benefitting from the said contracts.
NDDC however stated that there is the possibility that some people could have used the names of the politicians to secure the contracts.
The commission reiterated that the 2018 list was part of the several documents submitted to the forensic auditors.
The NDDC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Charles Odili, revealed that the released list is exclusive of a case of 250 contracts which were signed for and collected in one day by one person on behalf of members of the National Assembly.
He however stated, that he was sure that the forensic audit, as well as the engagement of media support specialists would reveal the identifies of those behind the contracts and the respective locations of each project.
He further stated that “The Interim Management Committee of the commission stands by the list. It is not an Akpabio list, but an NDDC’s list. The list is part of the volume of about 8,000 documents already handed over to the forensic auditors”.
“Prominent indigenes of the Niger Delta whose names were on the list should not panic as the commission knew that people used the names of prominent persons in the region to secure contracts, and the ongoing forensic audit would unearth those behind the contracts”.
“The intention of the list was to expose committee chairmen in the national assembly who used fronts to collect contracts from the commission, some of which were never executed.”
The list allegedly compiled in 2018 has the names of former Governors, Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), James Ibori (Delta}, Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi on it.
