The controversy surrounding allegations that lawmakers in Nigeria are beneficiaries of up to 60 per cent of contracts in the NDDC is not yet over as a lawyer has claimed that Senator Godswill Akpabio listed names of recipients in the letter he sent to the Senate.

Recall that following the drama that ensued on Monday, July 20, where the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio declared before the House Committee that lawmakers were the "greatest beneficiaries" of NDDC contracts, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday, ordered the Minister to name the lawmakers who received contracts from the Niger Delta Development Commission within 48 hours. 

On Thursday, July 23, Femi Gbajabiamila claimed Akpabio has denied saying lawmakers are the greatest beneficiaries of contracts awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission. He read a portion of the letter purportedly written by Akpabio claiming that he was merely referring to old contracts awarded by the NDDC and some of which are part of the constituency projects of the lawmakers.

However, Monday Ubani, a lawyer and a governance expert on Sunday, July 27, revealed on live TV that Senator Akpabio sent a letter with an attachment of the names of the members of the present lawmakers including the Chairman of the House Committee on NDDC, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi but those were not brought to the attention of the House.

He further claimed that the House omitted the part of the letter where Apkabio mentioned the names of the lawmakers guilty of contract racketeering. 

"The letter that was read was the certain paragraph that was very beneficial, and then there were all clapping and rejoicing whereas the letter is a rather comprehensive account of annexures that indicated names that were clearly involved in contracting in the NDDC," he said. 

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Although Ubani did not reveal the names of the lawmakers who benefitted from the NDDC contracts, he insisted that the list of names has been given to the Senate. 

"The NASS has a goal; they are looking for a way to take back the NDDC. I won't mention names (contract beneficiaries) because the list has been given to the lawmakers" Ubani said. 

However, a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Benjamin Kalu came on live TV to debunk Ubani's claim. 

According to him, Senator Apkabio did not release names of any of the current lawmakers. "The document (letter from Mr Akpabio), has names from 2018 which does not concern the 9th Assembly," Kalu said.

"I have the original documents submitted by the Minister. And guess what? The column that people referred to has he listed names. What would you see there? You will see Edo EDFA projects who was project source? EDFA. Does it mean that EDFA was the one that got the award of the contract? You go to another page. You see the Chairman of NDDC. You go to another page, you see NDDC, and then you see the page that they are referring to, it's only two members of the national assembly in the previous assembly 2018 project," he explained.

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