The highest ranking member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Nicholas Mutu has described as laughable, trite and fabricated tissue of lies the reports that he awarded dubious contracts as Chairman House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and used fronts to collect mobilization fees for unexecuted projects.
In a statement signed by his Consultant, Dr Austin Uganwa, Hon. Mutu who represents Bomadi/Patani in Delta state noted that he would have ordinarily ignored the inconsequential reports orchestrated by some faceless people masquerading as civil society members but decided to react to set the record straight for posterity
Noting that the sponsors of the report exposed their ignorance in their desperation to embark on a failed campaign of calumny against him, he stated that the business of awarding contracts in the Niger-Delta Development Commission was exclusively that of the management of the agency as enshrined in the Act setting it up.
Hon Mutu who has had five straight tenures as a House member noted that it was erroneous, groundless, cheap blackmail to allude that a Chairman of a parliamentary committee took over contract awarding duty of an agency like the NDDC.
“For record purpose, my basic function as Chairman House Committee on NDDC is to oversight the agency by evaluating from time to time work done by NDDC towards ensuring that projects embarked upon are in line with budgetary provisions and that the extent of execution is consistent with mode of releases”, he stressed.
He disclosed that apart from the House Committee on NDDC several other public institutions oversight NDDC which according to him, include; Presidential Monitoring Committee; Advisory and Monitoring Committee; Committee of Niger-Delta Governors and Account-General of the Federation Office. Others are: Secretary to Government of the Federation, Senate and House Committees on Public Accounts and Due Process Committees of the two chambers.
Besides, contracts valued at N1b and above, according to him, usually pass through the Due Process, Accountant General of the Federation and Federal Executive Council before approval without the House Committee on NDDC being involved.
He stated that the insinuation that he used fronts to collect contracts mobilization fees from NDDC is not only ridiculous but incredibly wicked because it is in the public domain that the House Committee on NDDC under his leadership pursued through oversight the stoppage of payment of mobilization fees to contractors since the past four years.
He stated that his legacies, remarkable and untainted record as House Committee Chairman on NDDC are profoundly manifest and verifiable and cannot be wished away by fictitious allusions of a faceless group whose dubious agenda is still unclear.
“Let me remind the faceless group that the leadership of the House is indeed satisfied with my excellent performance in NDDC Committee and accordingly no amount of character assassination and mischief will obliterate this position”, he said.
He added that the fundamental reasons why his constituents have voted him in five unbroken times included his integrity and the competent manner he has been representing them by addressing satisfactorily their basic needs, aspirations and challenges.
He urged the Niger-Delta people to continue to support NDDC to enable the agency remain focused on its mandate of developing the region.
