Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio has debunked the allegations that he donated N1.4 billion to a commercial bank.
Akpabio was reacting to recent claims by Chief Edet Nkpubre, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that he was being shielded from probe by Akwa Ibom Governor, Udom Emmanuel.
He described it as “baseless, infantile and an attempt to ridicule” him and his successor.
Former commissioner for Information and Communications in Akpabio’s administration, Elder Aniekan Umanah, who spoke on behalf of the governor described Nkpubre’s allegations as laughable.
Said Umanah: “I was part and parcel of that administration and I also had the privilege of serving in the two administrations. Whatever I say on this matter is verifiable.
“The purported N1.4 billion alleged to have been a donation by the former governor is total falsehood, with no iota of truth whatsoever.
“It was laughable that somebody of Nkpubre’s age could embark on a mischievous call, that the former governor should be investigated, based on a mere allegation, knowing full well that no sane government would donate state funds to a commercial bank, when in real practise, it should be the other way round.
“I know where Nkpubre, former vice chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (South South) is coming from and why he is all out to drag the name of the former governor into the mud. Because he failed to secure the support and endorsement of the former governor, on his ill-fated ambition of becoming the deputy national chairman of the party, at the national convention, he must, therefore, bring Akpabio down at all costs.”