Orubebe Denies Wrong Doing, Says Contract for East-west Road Awarded by Ekaette

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
A former Minister for Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe, has described as absurd the allegation that he diverted N1.9billion meant for the compensation of people whose land were taken for the dualisation of the East-West Road in the Niger Delta.

 Reacting to the filing of charges against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Orubebe who spoke in Abuja, said the contract for the construction of the road was awarded by his predecessor in office, Chief Ufot Ekatte.

He said payment for the contract was also done by Ekaette.
He described the charges as a psycophancy filed by people who wanted to deceive the  president that they were going after Orubebe even when he had done nothing wrong.
He said any issue about the award of the contract and the payment for the East-West Road dualisation project should be directed to Ekaette and not him.

 Orubebe, who said he was yet-to-be served with the charge, said payment for the project were made by his predecessor, Ufot Ekaete, who incidentally is from Eket, where the project was to be executed.
The ex-minister said he was interrogated on the issue last year by the ICPC and that when he clarified the issues to them, officials of the commission told him he had no case to answer.

“Ekaete was the Minister for Niger-Delta Affairs when the East-West Road dualisation project started.
The road was initially meant to pass through the community somewhere around Eket, but Ekaete expressed his preference for the by-pass to pass behind the community to aid development and expansion of the community.

“The N1.9billion, which they said  Orubebe diverted, was paid under Ekaete as the Minister of Niger-Delta. I did not make any payment. Ekaete paid the money to the construction company. I did not know when they paid the money.

“While some people agreed with the suggestion by Ekeate that the road should pass behind the community,  others disagreed. I met the problem when I became the Minister of Niger-Delta.

“I wrote the governor then, Governor Godswill Akpabio and we held meetings with the members of the community who disagreed on whether or not the by-pass should pass behind the Eket community or inside it.
“I only read the story about the charge in the newspapers. They have not served me. I am still waiting to be served.

“I have nothing to hide. The other time, they took me before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for the land that government gave to me. I submitted myself for trial. Trial has been concluded, we are only waiting for judgment, which has been postponed twice.

“When you have served your country diligently, people should not be concerned about how to destroy you.
“If I have committed an offence, I am ready to pay for it. The first case that started was in relation to the land that was given to every minister while I was in government.

“I was the only minister that went to sleep in the creeks, talking to militants, that brought about amnesty, and oil production rose for 700,000 barrels to 2.6million barrels per day.

“I have made sacrifices. I served this country for six years and four months. I was taken to court for the land that government gave to me, which I did not buy with my money.  Trial has finished in that case, we are only waiting for judgment, and now, they have brought another one. They should leave me alone,” Orubebe said.

The ICPC, in the five-count charge filed before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), accused Orubebe, Oludare Lawrence Alaba, Ephraim Towelde Zaki and Gitto Construction of  allegedly  diverting close to N2 billion meant for the dualisation of Section IV of the East-West Road.

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