No Vehicle Sold Under Me As Minister, Says Akpabio

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has described as untrue media reports that his ministry disposed six vehicles costing N90million for a paltry N2 million, less than a year after acquisition.

Akpabio made the refutal in a release by his Chief Press Secretary, Jackson Udom, saying, “those vehicles were sold in 2015, when I was still a senator of the Federal Republic.

“No vehicles were sold under my watch as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. But the media use my picture when publishing the story as if I was the minister in 2015. Those vehicles referred to were purchased in 2014 and disposed of in 2015.

“It is very unfair for the media to keep using my photograph to illustrate what happened long before I was appointed a minister, therefore, sending very wrong information to the unsuspecting members of the public as if the vehicles were sold under my watch.”

It would be recalled that the probe on the sales which was carried out by the Senator Mathew Urhoghide-led Senate Committee on Public Accounts had relied on the 2015 Report of the Auditor General for the Federation and demanded that the Accounting Officer of the Ministry (Permanent Secretary) should be sanctioned for illegally disposing of those vehicles.

In line with government procedures and regulations, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs at that time has a lot of explanations to make on what happened, the press release further stated.