Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has debunked claims that he offered the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, a bribe of $350,000.
In a statement released by the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Anietie Ekong, the Governor has claimed that he never offered any bride and never needed to.
According to the statement, Akpabio and Bawa had already discussed meeting on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, to discuss the transfer of funds belonging to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in respect of the 3 per cent statutory remittances from Oil and Gas Companies in the custody of the EFCC.
“President Muhammadu Buhari had since December 2020 approved the transfer of monies earlier paid by International Oil Companies into the CBN/EFCC account now to be transferred to the CBN/NDDC account.
“The Distinguished Chairman granted the request for 10:00 am but due to other exigencies, the Minister requested for a change of time to 11:30 am whereupon the Chairman amended the request to 12noon due to his busy schedule.
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“The two senior officials met and had a robust discussion and the Minister received very intelligent and useful input from the EFCC boss on the ongoing forensic audit of the NDDC,” the statement read.
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According to Ekong, the minister and the Chairman of the anti-graft agency reconvened that same evening to conclude their discussions, and that was the end of that.
Ekong further argued that Akpabio could not have possibly tried to bribe Bawa with $350k at all, seeing as he entered the office without a bag or container.
The statement also rubbished claims that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN was also bribed by Akpabio with a sum of $5m to get Effiong Akwa elevated to the position of the Interim Administrator of the NDDC.
The minister’s aide advised the public to disregard such “falsehoods”, saying that they were being purported by blackmailers.
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