On Tuesday, Godswill Akpabio, the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District, Akwa Ibom State, and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was elected as the Senate President of Nigeria.

Akpabio polled 63 votes to defeat Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari, his opponent in the race for the seat, who polled 46 votes.

Born on December 9, 1962, in the Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Akpabio attended Methodist Primary School, Ukana. He then proceeded to Federal Government College, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for his secondary school studies. On Completing his secondary school education, he gained admission into the University of Calabar, Cross River State, where he studied law.

Before his election as Senate President, Akpabio had on numerous occasions made the headlines for the wrong reasons. Interestingly, these allegations had two particular acts in common — corrupt practices and misappropriation of funds.

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Here are some of the instances:

N100 BILLION DIVERSION OF STATE FUNDS

In 2015, Akpabio came under investigation when it was alleged that he had diverted over N100 billion in Akwa Ibom State funds into personal accounts while he was governor of the state between 2007 and 2015.

An interim report carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), revealed that Akpabio had given N1.4 billion out of the money to an unnamed bank for unknown reasons during the period. He was also accused of spending N50 billion of state funds while vying for a second term in office. Akpabio denied the allegations.

A SPENDTHRIFT

In 2013, Akpabio, during his time as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, made a N230 million donation at the launching of a youth development centre in Otuoke, the hometown of Goodluck Jonathan, the former President of Nigeria, in Bayelsa State.

While donating the sum, Akpabio claimed he did so on behalf of the 23 members of the then PDP Governors’ Forum.

After the gesture was heavily criticised by many Nigerians, other members of the forum publicly distanced themselves from the act and claimed Akpabio acted alone.

In the same year, Akpabio would once again exhibit his profligate side by gifting N1 million each to state party chairmen from the south-south during a reconciliation and consolidation tour organised by the PDP.

“My brother, Emmanuel Uduaghan (the then Delta State Governor), said our party members are hungry and that we must put food in their stomach so that they don’t stray to other parties,” Akpabio said while making the donation.

“I am giving all the state chairmen of the party N1 million each for lunch. Our members must not be hungry.”

The act was met with a lot of condemnations from Nigerians, with many accusing him of spending Akwa Ibom State’s resources lavishly.

Unlike the Bayelsa State episode however, the PDP leadership said it saw nothing wrong in the donation Akpabio made.

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In 2018, Akpabio defected to the APC.

NDDC PUBLIC HEARING

He made the headlines again in 2020. While being queried on a N40 billion fund mismanagement as the NDDC minister at a house committee public hearing by some members of the Federal House of Representatives, Akpabio alleged that some lawmakers present at the hearing were the major beneficiaries of the projects awarded by the commission.

During the exchange, Akpabio said the following:

“We can not close down the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) because of forensic audit. The NDDC plays a vital role in ensuring the peace and security of the region. And 90 percent or more of the resources of the country on a monthly basis come from there.

“If you close it down in totality, all you will have will be chaos. And you will have a lot of not just militancy, but you will have a lot of insurrection as well.

“It is important that people who genuinely did jobs (for the NDDC) be paid for their jobs. For me, I am not against it (the shutting down of the commission) because [sic], who are even the greatest beneficiaries? It is you people na… If you look at your chairman, your chairman [sic]… (gesturing at the members of the committee).”

At that moment, some members of the committee felt uncomfortable with Akpabio’s revelation and told him to stop talking. He, however, went on to deal the committee a final blow.

“We have records to show that most of the contracts in NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly…”

At this point, a few committee members present at the hearing asked him to off mic.

A few days later, members of the Federal House of Representatives threatened to sue Akpabio for the allegation.

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Akpabio responded to the threat by providing a document that showed that four senators had received 74 contracts from the commission between 2017 and 2020.

He also accused Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the house committee chairman, of inserting 19 contracts worth N9 billion in the NDDC budget for 2019.

The document revealed that Peter Nwaoboshi, then the Chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC, allegedly executed 53 NDDC projects from 2017 to 2020.

Nwaoboshi was, however, quick to debunk the allegations, describing Akpabio as a confused individual. Tunji-Ojo also later denied the allegation.

Going by Akpabio’s antecedents, interesting times are here at the national assembly.