NDDC: Niger Delta Militants Back Akpabio, Forensic Audit, Slam NASS

Militants in Niger Delta under the auspices of Joint Revolutionary Council, JRC, a merger of militant groups, Monday morning, threw their weight behind Minister of Niger–Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, saying findings by them showed the National Assembly was after him because he refused lawmakers from continuing their plundering of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Spokesperson of JRC, Cynthia Whyte, in a statement, the group with its constituent groups like Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, was also in support of the ongoing forensic audit of NDDC.

“On the matter of the revelations at NDDC, we all know that if the Minister and the Interim Management Committee had agreed to a deal with the National Assembly like has been the case in the past two decades, we would not have heard the things we have been treated to in the past few months.

“Nothing will change at NDDC if the attitude of the National Assembly towards NDDC is not re-worked, re-calibrated, and re-jigged.

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“If it will take an Akpabio to change that, then fine. Akpabio understands infrastructure development.

“Apart from King Alfred Diete Spiff, no other governor in the Niger Delta has met or matched the measure of Infrastructural development that Akpabio brought to Akwa Ibom state.

“That is without question. We will like to see that kind of infrastructure deployed across the Niger Delta.

“In the years to come, he will be called to give an account of his stewardship at the Ministry of Niger Delta and NDDC,” the group added.

On JRC’s quietness before now, the spokesperson explained: “We have not been quiet. We have also been watching and listening to the revelations from all sides, studying the situation and then laugh at the dance of hypocrisy that has taken over the Niger Delta and the Nigerian state.”

“A forensic audit of NDDC is long overdue. It represents the kind of effort that a Buhari Administration should expend energy on.

“If Buhari has lost the nerve to punish all those who raided and looted NDDC, he should at least help us officially expose them.

“So we are 100 per cent behind a forensic audit. Even if it just ends up being a media fanfare, as we are now witnessing. We want the forensic audit to continue.

“We are also 100 per cent behind Minister Godswill Akpabio. We commend his initiative for a forensic audit.

“In return, we demand a timed completion of the East-West Road. With the same manner and quality that he delivered roads in Akwa Ibom state. It may be the only legacy that the Buhari administration will leave for the Niger Delta,” JRC stated.