The minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has come hard at the immediate past managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Ms. Joi Nunieh as a temperamental woman unable to hold a husband.
Responding to the allegations levelled against him by Ms. Nunieh, the minister in an interview confessed that she was not sacked because of corruption but for insubordination and believing that she was higher than him.
Ms. Nunieh is a close political and family associate of President Muhammadu Buhari who had a relationship with the first family for many years before the All Progressives Congress, APC came to power.
Ms Nunieh who was removed by Akpabio as managing director but kept as a member of the commission’s Interim Management Committee, IMC had on Friday accused Akpabio of corruption, coercing her to take oaths among other indiscretions.
However, responding in an interview on Arise Television, to her allegation, Akpabio asked her “to go to the hospital; see a doctor; get some injection and relax.”
“I am not saying anything is wrong with her. But something is wrong with her temperament. You do not need to ask me. But you ask about four other husbands she married.
“She was not relieved of her appointment because of corruption. But she was relieved of her appointment because of insubordination. My ministry that supervised her wrote seven letters to her. She never responded. And then she said she was bigger than the Minister of Niger Delta.”
Akpabio in the interview lamented that the NDDC became a place where stakeholders used to make money for elections. He, however, said that after making the money they never won the elections because it was ill-gotten money.
“Unfortunately, so many that made the money never won elections. They did not win the election because they contested with blood money. If the previous managing directors and chairmen of NDDC used the right contractors or have love for the region, they could have done far better.”
“If you do not love your children, you cannot give them the best. If you bring in those who do not love the region, they move their pocket forward instead of moving the region forward. I do not care about any allegation.
“What I care about is that things cannot remain the same again. In less than eight months, we have moved the managing director and other executive directors to the permanent site. It is an 18-storey building. It is totally finished. But it is 96 percent complete. Under 18 months, that is a will.
“What has happened in the NDDC is the people go there to steal the NDDC. If they attempt to steal the NDDC, then it means there will be no benefit for the people of Niger Delta.
“But they are paying N300 million annually as rent in the place they are using as an office in Port Harcourt. There was a building started under Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). Yet, they could not complete it.
“When I was appointed the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, I prayed to God. I asked God to give me the ability to take insults that will come my way. At the same time, I asked God to give me the wisdom to turn around the Niger Delta.
“Of course, I expected all these things coming my way. If you place a seed, that seed must first die before it germinates. The NDDC must go through this process before it stands. We must give kudos to the President.”
