REVEALED: How Akpabio’s Men Displaced Nsima’s Boys at NDDC

REVEALED: How Akpabio’s Men Displaced Nsima’s Boys at NDDC

There is currently a simmering between the camp of the APC caucus leader in the Akwa Ibom Senator Godswill Akpabio and the former MD of NDDC, Mr. Nsima Ekere over alleged displacement of Ekere’s loyalists from the employment recruitment list of the interventionist agency, this newspaper has learnt.

Last week what appeared as a secret recruitment document was made public and was all over the social media, prompting heated arguments by members of both camps and other members of the public who were surprised to notice that indeed there was a secret recruitment exercise by the commission without public knowledge.

An APC supporter who is in Ekere’s camp who would not want the name mentioned has expressed anger over what he described as the ‘shortchanging’ of Nsima’s loyalists by the Niger-Delta Affairs Minister, Senator Akpabio.

According to the source “we are not happy about the discovery of a secret recruitment in the NDDC where only Akpabio’s loyalists including Barr. Ibanga Akpabio, Mr. Clement Ikpatt, and the rest were shortlisted for employment in the commission, while Nsima Ekere’s loyalists earlier included in the list have been dropped. Is that fair?”

How such a recruitment exercise was perfected just few days upon his resumption as Niger-Delta Affairs Minister to the exclusion of other jobless APC supporters who had shown uncommon solidarity to the party even at a time he Akpabio was still in PDP remains a puzzle to many.

The former Governor, shortly on assumption of office terminated all appointments made by Mr Ekere during his last days as MD of NDDC, claiming they (appointees) were not fairly recruited.

Further investigation by this newspaper reveals that the recent discovery of the secret recruitment list has generated serious disquiet between members of both camps within the APC in Akwa Ibom.

Our reporter came across the list which has the likes of Barr Ibanga Akpabio a former Commissioner in the state Executive Council, Clement Ikpatt, a former Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Diaspora Affairs, Joe Iniodu, a former two term Personal Assistant on Media to both Akpabio and his successor, Barr Mary Ekpenyong who was Akpabio’s Representative in Abuja throughout his tenure as Governor, and Iniobong John the leader of the APC Youth Caucus in the state, all appointed into salary Grade Level 08 in the NDDC.

This has infuriated the team members of Nsima Ekere’s campaigns, who feel that Akpabio is bent on getting every available positions for his core loyalists.

The Niger Delta Affairs Minister had previously ensured the nomination of two former PDP members who left the party to join him in APC, Victor Antai and Otobong Ndem into the board of the NDDC as commissioner and Executive Director of Projects.

“There was nothing unfair about that first list, Akpabio simply hates Nsima and wants to frustrate everything that has to so with Nsima, I dont know why he is treating the man like that,” one of the APC supporters lamented on the social media.