The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio has responded to allegations of corruption levelled against him by Joy Nunieh, a former Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC).
Mrs Nunieh had accused Akpabio of indulging in various forms of corruption in his handling of the NDDC.
Among other things, she told newsmen after honoring the summon of the Senate ad-hoc committee, investigating NDDC on Friday that “nobody makes any payment in NDDC without Akpabio’s approval.”
She said, “When we first came, on the day of the inauguration, he (Akpabio) said to me in the car, ‘Madam MD, if you don’t do what I say, the same pen with which I used to sign your paper is the same pen I’ll use to remove you.”
Responding to the allegations, Akpabio in an interview with Arise Television, said that the former NDDC MD had a character problem that the four husbands she had and divorced could explain.
He meanwhile, said that Nunieh was not sacked because of corruption, but because of her insubordination and lack of the prerequisite certificates to head an agency.
The minister blamed himself for having a soft spot for women, saying that the soft spot he had for them was the reason he never wanted to spite the former NDDC MD by making her educational deficiencies public.
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“I don’t want to discuss her because that’s not the job of a Minister.
“The last MD you mentioned, Joy Nunieh, I wish she can go to hospital, see a doctor take some injections and relax.
“I’m not saying that there’s something wrong with her, but I’m saying there’s something wrong with her temperament. Remember she had about four other husbands that she married.
“You also need to bring all the other former husbands to the studio so that you ask them questions one after the other because it looks like character.
“They will have answers to her problem. Not a professional conduct, is she a professional?
“They will tell you about her characters because what I’m seeing here…if somebody comes up and say something on television channel…then the whole world…Nigerians love bad news and my job is to protect the citizens of the country and the administration of Mr. President.
“I must tell you that even Mr. President, President Buhari was not aware of all these things because I did not want to bother because he will be shocked,” Akpabio said.
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