Senate Clerk Disowns Letter Seeking Probe, Arrest of Akpabio by EFCC

The Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Nelson Ayewoh, has denied any knowledge of a purported letter written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for potential probe and arrest of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, on alleged financial impropriety at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Ayewoh in a statement signed by him, which was dated June 9, 2020, and made available to THISDAY, said neither the letter nor the letterhead used for the petition to the EFCC is genuine. According to him, “Aside that the letter was fraudulently made to look like one emanating from his office, the wordings, style and syntax used in the letter are clearly different from our in-house style. "The style, syntax and word fonts employed by the mischief maker(s) in their correspondence vary from our in-house standard." He said he aligned with all the rebuttals that had been made on the ‘fake letter’ by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, calling on security agencies to unveil the identity of the mischief makers behind the letter . The letter titled: ‘Urgent Press Release’, reads: "My attention has been drawn to a forged letter dated May 7, 2020, purported to have emanated from my office and addressed to the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). "The letter fraudulently indicates that the deputy president of the Senate had directed the Clerk of the Senate to petition the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and one Mr. Scott Ikott Tommey on allegations bordering on alleged corruption at the NDDC. "The office of the deputy president of the Senate has already responded to the false publication and fraudulent petition. I completely agree with his submission that the publication is ‘false, fake, malicious, mischievous and vexatious’.” The clerk added that the public and all concerned are hereby invited to note as follows:-“That at no time did the Deputy Senate President, Augustine Ovie Omo-Agege, request me to forward any petition to any agency of the government. "That at no time did the Office of the Clerk of the Senate issue or cause to be issued a petition seeking the monitoring and investigation of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, or any person for that matter. "That the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has channels for addressing public petitions. In this case, no petition on the subject matter is before the Senate, and therefore, no resolution could have been taken in this regard. “That the letterhead used by the mischief maker(s) is different from the one used in my Office as the reference number NASS/CS/99/R/21/19 on the forged letter is not an aspect of our filing index, and the style, syntax and word fonts employed by the mischief maker(s) in their correspondence vary from our in-house standard. "Accordingly, the EFCC as well as the public are hereby advised to disregard this discredited petition. In addition, security agencies are enjoined to investigate the source of this forgery."