The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has demanded the refund of N2.5billion from the senator representing Delta North, Chief Peter Nwaoboshi, for contracts his companies allegedly failed to execute.
The commission made the demand in a letter to the senator, which was made available to newsmen in Port Harcourt.
However, the names of the errant firms were not disclosed in the letter addressed to the lawmaker.
But, in the letter, the commission insisted that Nwaoboshi must refund the money within two weeks.
The letter, dated July 5, 2020, and signed by the Director, Legal Services of the NDDC, Peter Okoro, requested the senator to pay back the money meant for the supply of plastic chairs and desks for primary and secondary schools in the Niger Delta region in 2017.
Part of the letter reads, “Instead of supplying the chairs and desks to the commission’s warehouse in Port Harcourt or to any of the NDDC offices in the nine Niger Delta states, the items were supplied to a warehouse described as ‘Akuede Akwis’ located at Benin Expressway, Okpanam, before Wichetech Aluminium Company.”
According to the letter, the lawmaker’s firms were paid to supply the plastic chairs and desks to schools in Delta North Senatorial District, including desks and benches to selected schools in the Niger Delta.
The NDDC noted, “Despite having fully paid for the 2017 contracts for the production of chairs and desks, the items have not been supplied to the commission.
“The resultant effect is that the commission and the Niger Delta region have been deprived of the use of the desks and chairs.”
When contacted, the NDDC spokesperson, Charles Odili, confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
In response, Nwaoboshi, in a statement by his media aide, Awele Onokwai, last Friday, said the matter was already before a competent court of law, adding that the senator had yet to receive a copy of the letter purportedly addressed to him from the NDDC.
Nwaoboshi described the letter as fake as it was not officially addressed or signed, stressing that the letter did not link him to any of the contracts.
The statement read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to the purported subject matter above, credited to one Peter Claver Okoro, Esq, posing as the Director, Legal Services of the Niger Delta Development Commission, and we make bold to state the following:
“That the purported matter is subjudice as it is already before two law courts of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria, wherein, Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi sued the NDDC, Mr Charles Odili and relevant newspapers for defamation of character.
“The purported letter addressed to Senator Peter Nwaoboshi was written on the 5th of July, 2020, and as of today, 7th of August, 2020, the said letter has not reached Senator Peter Nwaoboshi – either in person or office or by substitution.
“The purported letter, unlike any formal letter emanating from a recognized government ministry, agency or department is not signed, therefore, can easily be denied.
“Nowhere in the contents of the purported letter was it stated that the contractor is directly linked to Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.
“Nowhere in the purported letter was it stated that the warehouse, where the plastic chairs were domiciled, belongs to Distinguished Senator Peter Nwaoboshi”, the senator’s response, indicated.
It would be recalled that Nwaoboshi, his colleagues in the National Assembly and some former ex-governors have denied being contractors to the NDDC.
Similarly, the embattled management of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the former acting Managing Director under the Interim Management Committee (IMC), Dr Joi Nunieh, to refund N1.96billion allegedly collected for the fight against Lassa fever in the region.
The Director, Legal Services of the commission, Peter Clever Okoro, made the development agency’s position known in a letter addressed to Nunieh, and made available to newsmen, in Port Harcourt, at the weekend.
He said the ultimatum to refund the money was in compliance with the order of the Senate.
Okoro, in the letter, entitled, “Demand for the refund of N1.96billion to the Niger Delta Development Commission”, said the demand was in respect of the failed payment for requests for Lassa fever kits dated January 17, 2020 from the director, Education, Health and Social Services, when she was acting MD/CEO of the commission.
It would be recalled that, Nunieh, while speaking to journalists after the final session of the Senate Ad-hoc Committee, last month, had stated that no payment was made by the NDDC under her watch without the knowledge of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
She said only N8billion was expended by the agency from October 29, 2019 to May 31, 2020, when she held sway contrary to the figure being bandied around.