NDDC Fraud Scandal: Publisher Traces Police Manhunt For Him To Akpabio, Alleges Threats To Life

The Publisher/Editor-in-chief, Daily Watch, an online newspaper, Mr Cletus Opukeme, has raised the alarm over alleged threat to his life by security operatives whom he alleged were deployed to track him by the Niger Delta Affairs Minister, Godwill Akpabio who is the supervising minister of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Opukeme alleged plot to abduct him over his reported exposure of the monumental fraud in NDDC running into billions of naira that had attracted the Senate and House of Reprsentatives probe of the commission’s Interim Management Committee.

He said that the plot was part of the reasons some “IGP boys from Abuja traced him from Abuja to the office of the Nigerian Union of journalists office in Warri, Delta State and in a commando like manner and abducted Mr. Matthew Omonigho away from their reach”.

According to him, the arrested Journalist who was later dumped at Area Commander office Warri was used as bait to get at him.

He said that the police also arrested and detained four other journalists sent to the Warri Area Command to make enquiries about the earliest arrest.

“The police instead of listening to the NUJ delegation confisticated all their phones and detained them, also that the Police told them that they were special squad sent from Abuja to arrest Mr. Cletus Opukeme, the Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief of Daily Watch”, he said in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Friday.

Hear him: “I want to categorically warn that the so called crooked IGP paid boys and other security operatives should stay away from Daily Watch publications.

“That if Senator Godswill Akpabio or any other person feel aggrieved by our published stories, they know the right option which is to seek for redress as the court is there for them to sue Daily Watch publisher, and allow the judiciary to determine our publication whether it is libelous and defamatiory.

“It is not the place of DSS ,the IGP boys or any other security operatives to be used to intimidate Daily Watch over our genuine investigations which first exposed large scale of financial missapproriation in NDDC”.

“Senator Akpabio has turned NDDC to a cash cow looting the common wealth of the people of Niger Delta and intimidation or arrest by IGP Boys /DSS cannot frighten us from doing what we know how to do best by informing the public the right information.

“The invasion of Warri NUJ office by the crooked IGP TEAM to arrest a journalist is an embarrassment to democracy in the country as journalists have freedom of expression enshrined on the nation’s constitution.

“If Akpabio is aggrieved by our publications for exposing his massive looting, he should go to court and stop intimidating me with the police and ex-militants to gag the press from doing our Constitutional duties”.

“The said IG squad called one of the arrested journalists to direct them to Cletus Opukeme’s residence who identified himself as Reuben with mobile phone number: 08116912068, quoting the other reporter being hounded, he said, “One Mr. Reuben just called now requesting to know if I have been able to see Cletus.

“I told him that he only called me this morning wherein I asked him to be at the Area Command with me in solidarity and he refused. Again, he asked if I know any link with which they could get him and I said No. He later cut the call”, the publisher quoted the reporter as saying.

The statement further read, ” Therefore, I am calling the Inspector General of Police Mr. Mohammed Adamu to hold Niger Delta minister Godswill Akpabio and the members of the NDDC Interim management committee responsible, if anything happens to my life and my members of my immediate family”.

All efforts to reach Akpabio for comment proved abortive as of press time.