The Acting Executive Director of Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC,Cairo Ojuogbo has denied allegations that members of the National Assembly collected palliatives from the Commission.
Ojuogbo had been quoted as saying that the House of Representatives received N15million Covid-19 palliatives each while Senators got N20million.an allegation that compelled the Senators to ask him to provide a list of the beneficiaries or tender a public apology.
However in a swift reaction,, Ojuogbo issued a Statement titled” Re Senate Challenges NDDC Over Alleged N20million palliatives.
In the statement, Ojuiogbo expressed dismay over the Tuesday edition of The Nation Newspaper titled”Senate Challenges NDDC Over Alleged N20million palliatives”which stated that he issued a statement alleging that the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC paid varying sums of money as Covid-19 palliatives to members of the National Assembly and denied ever making such statement saying” I want to state without, without any hint of doubt, that I neither issued,nor made, such a statement, indeed, there is no payment in the Commission’s budget for such a payment.
According to him,he would have resisted such payment if request to that has been brought to the commission.
” Let me make it clear with all due respect to the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly as well as to the entire Nigeria puplic that,I would have resisted such a payment of it were brought up in the Commission.
Ojougbo who explained that in the past few months, the Interim Management had been saddled with championing a campaign to cleanse the Commission of obvious corruption and frivolous payment, said” In the course of this campaign,it bears to emphasise once more that I and the IMC,as well as the Commission, have been cleared to state that the National Assembly,as a distinguished body,as well as the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives,are absolved of blame.Indeed the main body of the National Assembly is unaware of the questionable happenings in the NDDC”.
” To concort the dubious, malicious and infantile lie against me, therefore shows the extent, and how low, people can go to bring harm to individuals and cause disaffection among people and between institutions.he said
