By Ben Ogbemudia
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 the Ad-Hoc committee investigating the N100 million bribe allegedly to compromise the 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.

Both of them denied the allegations when they appeared before the Investigation Committee set up by the CCB to probe allegations that some officials of the Bureau were bribed by them.

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

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.

CCB summons Akpabio, Akwa over alleged N100m bribery, failure of NDDC MD to declare assets

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.

“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 inquiry into the allegations, while the final outcome of the investigation will be communicated in due course.”