There was mild confusion in the House of Representatives on Monday as the acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Daniel Pondei, slumped and fainted during interrogation by the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC.
The panel is investigating the alleged mismanagement of N81.5 billion by the interim management of the NDDC led by Pondei.
Pondei was answering questions posed by lawmakers when he slumped. Other participants at the meeting tried to revive him before he was taken out of the venue.
Pondei had appeared before the panel last Thursday, but stormed out of the session, accusing the chairman of the NDDC House Committee, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, of complicity in the fraud at the agency. He said the chairman could not preside over a case that he was an accused. Tunji-Ojo subsequently withdrew from the Monday session.
READ ALSO: Beneficiaries of NDDC scholarships abroad groan as commission fails to pay tuition
As the hearing was going on Monday, a lawmaker, Shehu Koko, asked NDCC boss to explain the N642m paid to a company known as Clear Point Communication. The NDDC chief was also asked to explain the N536m paid to Save Life Campaign and to prove that they were all budgeted for in the 2019 Appropriation Act.
While the Acting NDDC Managing Director admitted that N642m was paid to Clear Point Communication to train locals and to help locate and identify NDDC projects in the area, he could not confirm that the payments were budgeted for.
-Advertisement-
He asked the lawmakers to give him time to provide the budget and in the process, he collapsed before he was rushed out of the venue of the hearing.
READ ALSO: Oke-Ogun Traditional Rulers Storm Abuja over Bill on Technology Varsity
The panel subsequently adjourned the session for 30 minutes. The probe was initially slated for two days but it is currently on its fourth day.
When the hearing resumed, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and Majority Leader Alhassan Doguwa joined the committee members to continue with the sitting. Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, is also expected to testify before the panel.
The panel is investigating the alleged mismanagement of N81.5 billion by the interim management of the NDDC led by Pondei.
We do everything possible to supply quality news and information to all our valuable readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
-Advertisement-
-Want to get the news as it breaks?-
