Alleged N100m bribe: We have questioned Akpabio, NDDC interim administrator, Akwa-CCB

• Says investigations are ongoing

Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) said that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio and the interim administrator of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mr Effiong Okon Akwa, had been grilled by it.

Both of them reportedly appeared before the Investigation Committee set up by the CCB to probe allegation that some officials of the Bureau were bribed by them.

The N100 million bribe was allegedly to compromise investigation into claims that the interim Administrator of NDDC, Akwa, did not file or declare records of his assets as prescribed by the extant Code of Conduct law with the CCB.

THE CONCLAVE learnt that there was a report that some officials were bribed to smuggle updated records of Akwa’s assets into the relevant files to invalidate claim in a petition that he had not submitted an up-to-date asset declaration form.

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Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Akpabio was mentioned in some sundry reports as Akwa’s sponsor in the bid to save him, having nominated him for the job in the first instance.

Although, the CCB in a statement signed by Mrs Fatima Kere-Ahmed, Secretary of the Sub-Committee on Allegation against CCB Officials for the Chairman of the committee, did not indicate the dates the duo appeared before it, it nevertheless confirmed their appearances.

Entitled “Status of the investigation of an alleged case of bribery against certain officials of Code of Conduct Bureau”, the statement said the two public officers were interviewed during which they denied the allegations.

Read the statement: “Following the investigation of allegations that certain officials of Code of Conduct Bureau were induced to the tune of One Hundred Million Naira, I wish to confirm that Chief Godswill Akpabio and Mr Effiong Okon Akwa, who featured prominently in the petition, appeared before the investigation Committee, were interviewed accordingly and both denied all the allegations.

“The investigation is still ongoing; this is to allow for a fair, thorough and dispassionate enquiry into the allegations, while the final outcome of the investigation will be communicated in due course.”