The House of Representatives Committee on NDDC has turned down the request by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator GODSWILL AKPABIO, to begin its investigative public hearing on NDDC afresh.
Senator AKPABIO made the request when he appeared before the investigative hearing after the Chairman of the Committee stepped down over allegations of bias, but he was ruled out.
The Niger Delta Minister went on to explain that he did not hijack the NDDC forensic audit, and that over eight thousand files needed for the exercise had been handed over to the forensic auditors.
Senator AKPABIO explained that he had only directly been involved in the award of three contracts since he took charge as supervising minister of the NDDC, including Covid-19 contracts awarded under emergency provisions.
Senator AKPABIO also denied asking anyone to share money for December 2019, adding that Forty Billion Naira cannot go missing from NDDC account, which is being kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
On the claims by former Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, JOI NUNIEH, that she was asked to take an oath, Senator AKPABIO said such a thing never happened, and went on to share a document with the lawmakers.