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April 30, 2023
Akpabio is among the nine contenders for the Senate presidency of the 10th Assembly, which is expected to be inaugurated in June.
A former Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio has been putting pressure on other senators-elect to endorse him as the sole candidate for the Senate Presidency, SaharaReporters has learnt.
Top sources in the ruling All Progressives Congress also said Akpabio, a senator-elect, has been throwing around the name of the ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu, saying he has his support and using that to further pressurise the senators-elect.
Akpabio is among the nine contenders for the Senate presidency of the 10th Assembly, which is expected to be inaugurated in June.
Tinubu, who returned to the country last Monday, April 24, after spending weeks on a medical trip to Paris, France, has met with some leaders of the All Progressives Congress, governors as well as members-elect of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Among those who met with the ‘President-elect’ were Akpabio (APC/Akwa Ibom) and Barau Jibrin (APC/Kano).
But sources said Akpabio’s desperation to clinch the Senate Presidency has been evident in the way he is going about seeking the endorsement of other senators-elect.
SaharaReporters recently exclusively published a story about how Senator Akpabio refused to honour an invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on the excuse of ill health.
Last Friday, SaharaReporters also reported that the EFCC had re-invited Akpabio, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, over allegations of abuse of office and misappropriation of billions of Naira.
The EFCC earlier invited Akpabio to appear for questioning on March 29 but the lawyer representing the Senator-elect, Umeh Kalu (SAN), in a letter to the anti-graft agency said his client would be unable to honour the invitation due to his ill health.
The lawyer said Akpabio was undergoing treatment for pneumonia and cardiac arrhythmia and therefore asked the antigraft agency to pick another date.
According to the lawyer, Akpabio had already arranged medical appointments overseas.
However, SaharaReporters last Friday obtained a fresh letter from the EFCC asking Akpabio to come to its headquarters in Abuja on May 9, 2023.
The letter dated April 13, 2023, was received by Akpabio’s lawyers, Seasons Law Firm the following day.
The letter titled, ‘Investigation Activities Re: Senator Godswill Akpabio's Appointment Letter Of Invitation’ was signed by ACE II SM Ala, Head, CMU-1.
The letter reads, “I refer to your letter number dated March 27, 2023 on the above subject. In view of the above, you are kindly requested to inform your client Senator Godswill Akpabio to personally report for an interview with the undersigned through the Head, CMU-1 team on 9th May, 2023 at 5th Floor, EFCC Headquarters Plot 301/302 Institutions and Research District. Jabi, Abuja at 10:00am.”
According to sources, Akpabio is trying to use the endorsements by his colleagues as a ploy to blackmail the EFCC into backtracking on its move to investigate him.
One of the sources who spoke to SaharaReporters said, “If Senator Akpabio does not have a hidden agenda and also skeleton in his cupboard, why is he trying to use the name of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu to hoodwink the Senators-elect to sign his phantom and ill-timed endorsement to become the sole candidate for the election for the office of the Senate President.
“Senator Godswill Akpabio and his cohorts are busy collecting, mounting pressure on Senators-elect to sign an endorsement support letter for his desperate ambition of becoming the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This orchestration of collecting signatures is his grand ploy to evade EFCC's May 9, 2023 invitation.”
There are also indications that Akpabio had vowed not to honour the EFCC invitation and avoid being interrogated over the corruption allegations against him.
One of the sources said, “Same Senator Godswill Akpabio had vowed that he will never subject himself to EFCC invitation and interrogation to answer the allegations of embezzlement and siphoning of over N100 billion during his tenure as Honourable Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
“It is most disheartening and tragic for the same Senator Akpabio to be hoodwinking Senators-elect to sign endorsement letter for him for his Senate President's ambition for onward transmission of the same endorsement to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This purported phantom endorsement of Senator Akpabio by Senators-elect will among other purposes, serve as a decoy and ploy by Senator Akpabio to blackmail and hoodwink EFCC, hence he will fail and evade to honour the second invitation of EFCC scheduled for May 9, 2023.”
“It is a joke taken too far that Senator Akpabio wants to desecrate the sanctity and integrity of the Senate by collecting signatures of Senators-elect while the inauguration of the 10th Senate or election of the presiding officers of Senate is almost five weeks away as it will probably be held on June 10 or 13,2023.
“If Senator Akpabio does not have a hidden agenda and also a skeleton in his cupboard, why is he trying to use the name of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu to hoodwink the Senators-elect to sign his phantom and ill-timed endorsement to become the sole candidate for the election for the office of the Senate President.
“He should honour EFCC's invitation and summon in order for him to clear his name on the allegations of hundreds of billions of naira he allegedly siphoned from NDDC's coffers when he was the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
“EFCC Chairman is advised to carry out his constitutional duty if Senator Akpabio fails to appear before the Commission on May 9, 2023, to respond to serious allegations of financial malfeasance against him. EFCC is urged to arrest him immediately if he fails to honour the invitation for the umpteenth time.
“Senators-elect are advised not to allow Senator Akpabio to use them and dump them. They should allow him to go to EFCC and clear his name, instead of signing a phantom and ill-timed endorsement for him,” one of the sources said.
Corruption Allegations Against Akpabio
SaharaReporters in 2021 reported how the senator-elect was detained after he attempted to bribe the Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Abdulrasheed Bawa with $350,000 (about N135 million).
According to sources, Akpabio was trying to bribe the EFCC Chairman because of the many corruption allegations against him, dating back to when he was governor of Akwa Ibom State.
It was learnt that the meeting between Akpabio and Bawa was arranged by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
SaharaReporters gathered that it took a call from the Presidential Villa to the EFCC Chairman to get Akpabio and his aides released.
A top source in the EFCC had said, "He arrived at the EFCC office with five others and headed to meet the newly appointed Chairman, Bawa.
"The Attorney General of the Federation recently arranged the meeting for the minister. You remember his bribery issue with Malami himself involving $5 million.
"He was ushered in at 1 pm to see the EFCC chairman while carrying the money personally. He was arrested and detained, along with his aides, all six of them. It was a call from the Villa that got him released after two hours."
There had been allegations of N40 billion fraud perpetrated in the NDDC, a ministry which was headed by Akpabio for three years.
The Senate and the House of Representatives in 2020 resolved to probe the alleged N40 billion financial recklessness of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC in the previous three months.
Also, there were allegations of over N86 billion contract scam involving the senator-elect and the former Acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, which the EFCC has been looking into.
The anti-graft agency had in the past arrested Akpabio over the alleged theft of N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom funds.