Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, House Committee Chairman on Niger Delta Development Commission, has accused the agency of trying to shift attention from the embezzlement and financial misappropriation in the organisation.
Tunji-Ojo, while speaking with SaharaReporters, said the commission was trying to divert the attention of Nigerians from the ongoing corruption investigation in the commission to the activities of the National Assembly.
He stated that the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei, was making moves to drag the lawmakers into the embezzlement going on in the commission.
He said, “The House Committee Chairman has to perform oversight functions over you and if that is not done, there is no need to have a National Assembly.
“The issue here is that the NDDC is diverting the attention and the attention is how they spent N81bn, we are talking about real money.
“Since May 31, their budget ceased to operate and between June 1 and August 6, they have spent over N30bn without budget which is a constitutional criminal offence, these are the issues that need to be talked about.
“How can an agency of the government be spending without a budget?
“That is the real attention; they should say what they spent the money on.
“Let us look at the main crux of the matter, what the subject we are talking about is, how they have spent money illegally. We should not allow them to distract us. Nigerians should not be distracted.
“We should look at misappropriation, misapplication and extra-budgetary expenditure, it is a constitutional matter.”
