Ekpenyong , Akpabio trade accusations over CCB assets declaration forms

The Senator-elect for Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial district, Dr Chris Ekpenyong, has alerted security agencies alleging that former Senator Godswill Akpabio was conniving with an official of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to tamper with his assets declaration forms.

Ekpenyong claimed that “Akpabio has paid an official of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), a senior director in-charge of Intelligence, Monitoring and Investigation to tamper with my asset declaration forms”.

“I have it on good authority that Akpabio, having failed the election with no hope for him at the tribunal, has gone as far as bribing that CCB Director from Kebbi state to search the file I submitted when I was the deputy governor between 1999 and 2005 and the one I submitted before the election in 2015.

“He has gone to the CCB to compel them to launch investigation against me since he could not as usual bribe his way through the election petition tribunal.

“So I am informing the security agencies in early enough to hold Akpabio and that CCB director from Kebbi state responsible should they hack into the CCB vault to remove the documents in order to manipulate the contents against what I submitted.

“I am the one that submitted the documents and I have the photocopies of my asset declaration forms, so I want the security agencies to take note of this and investigate this allegation to establish the truth.

He told security operatives and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe into Akpabio’s record between 2002, when he became a Commissioner and 2015 when he left the state’s political space as governor “to ascertain whether the assets he acquired match his legitimate earnings”.

But Senator Akpabio, who spoke through his media aide, Anietie Ekong, said the allegations by Engr Chris Ekpenyong are baseless, reckless and spurious and unbecoming of a man of his status.

He said for a man who is parading a stolen mandate as senator-elect and whose declaration by INEC is being challenged at the tribunal, he finds it curious that he’s making wild allegations against the Code of Conduct Bureau. 

According to Ekong, “few weeks back he had similarly made flimsy accusations denigrating the judiciary that members of the National Assembly elections petition tribunal have been bribed. He has now admitted that he lied.

“However, we have it on good authority that Engr Ekpenyong may have realised that he had lied on oath in his filings and has made several fruitless attempts to retrieve and doctor the forms hence this wolf crying.

“We want to state categorically that Senator Godswill Akpabio has nothing whatsoever to do with the Code of Conduct forms of Engr Ekpenyong. It is obvious he is running when no man is pursuing him.

“However, we want to put the security agencies and the Code of Conduct Bureau on notice because of this whistle blowing by Engr Ekpenyong. It shows clearly that he has messed up and is now looking for scapegoats to cover his tracks.”

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