Senator Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta Affairs has said that his legal team has been instructed to institute a defamation suit against Ms Joy Nunieh, former acting managing director of the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over her allegations against him.
Nunieh had made some grave allegations against the minister in interviews with reporters.
In a statement on Thursday in Abuja, Anietie Ekong, special assistat on media to Akpabio descrbed the accusations as “cornucopia of false, malicious and libellous,” adding that the Minister will seek redress in a Court of law.
The statement read, “The Honourable Minister’s initial attitude was to allow his lawyers and the judicial system vindicate him of the false allegations against him, but he is compelled to react to some of the wayward allegations levied against his person by Ms Nunieh, especially the one bothering on sexual harassment.
“To start with, let it be known that there is no scintilla of truth in all the allegations peddled around by Ms Nunieh. They are simply false! The Honourable Minister did not at any time, place or circumstance make any form of sexual advances to Ms Nunieh, not even to put himself in a position or posture suggestive of sexual advances towards Ms Nunieh, or any female staff of his Ministry or the NDDC.
“For the records, the Honourable Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON is happily married and contented with his wife. Together they are blessed with children, four (4) of whom are young women. The Honourable Minister is an avid believer of the Affirmative Action and that was visible in the appointments he made as a two (2) term Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State between 2007 and 2015. Under his watch, he appointed several women into various high-level positions as Chairpersons of Local Government Councils, Magistrates, Judges, Heads of Parastatals, Directors, Permanent Secretaries, and Commissioners.”
Source: VanguardNGR