James Ibori Denies Benefiting From NDDC Contract

A former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Ibori, has denied the accusation that he was one of the beneficiaries of Niger Delta Development Commission contracts.

Ibori, in the reaction by his Media Assistant, Tony Eluemunor, said the content of the letter of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, was incorrect was he had never benefitted from NDDC contracts.

Eluemunor said Ibori, on hearing the news of the alleged NDDC contract awarded did not want to join in the “dancing in the market square” going on in the intervention agency right now.

He said he has decided to make this clarification for the records because friends and associates inundated him with phone calls on the development, adding: “So, he is stating categorically that he never solicited for, or was awarded, or indeed executed, any contract with NDDC or any government agency, at any time, for that matter.

“And in all he has been through in and out of public office, he has never been accused of being a government contractor, let alone a failed one hence he did not want to dignify the allegation with a response because it is ridiculous.

“So, Ibori is advising Akpabio, his brother, friend and member of the former Governors Forum, to please calm down and focus on the task at hand.

Ibori said that the NDDC “we have today” is a product of his personal sacrifice as well as those of his Niger Delta colleagues (1999-2007) who rose to the occasion to override the veto of President Olusegun Obasanjo who refused to assent to the NDDC Bill at the time.

“If not for the exemplary courage some of us exhibited, there would have not been an NDDC to bicker about today,” he said, adding: “Watching the level the NDDC has degenerated to, is a tragedy.

“We owe it a duty to the people of the Niger Delta to make NDDC work to ameliorate the sufferings of the people of the region and to realise the dream for which we fought for it to be set up.

“So, let everybody involved in the NDDC do their duties to the good people of the region.”