I DID NOT BETRAY AKPABIO - COMMISSIONER

Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Finance,
Akan Okon, has denied leaking information on
the former governor of the state, Godswill
Akpabio, to the Economic and Financial Crime
Commission.
In a move widely seen as an attempt to shield
Mr. Akpabio who is currently the senate
minority leader, the Akwa Ibom government
had last month secured an interim injunction
from a state high court, barring the EFCC, the
police, and other federal agencies from
examining the account books of the state
government.
The injunction was later vacated by the court.
The EFCC, in October last year, had arrested
and detained Mr. Akpabio for hours over
alleged multi-billion naira fraud he was
alleged to have committed while he was the
governor. He was later released.
Public interest in the case was revived last
week when some local newspapers in the
state accused Mr. Okon of leaking sensitive
information on Mr. Akpabio.
“Since I became the commissioner for finance
I have never been invited to the EFCC, so at
what forum would I have given information on
Akpabio to the EFCC?” Mr. Okon said on
Thursday, during an interview programme on a
local radio station in Uyo. “Or does EFCC now
take information by phone?”
Mr. Okon said he has “a very good
relationship” with Mr. Akpabio, whom he first
worked under as finance commissioner, before
being appointed into the same office by Mr.
Akpabio’s successor, Udom Emmanuel.
The commissioner, in the interview, suggested
the stories published in the local media were
planted against him for political reasons.
“You know that in life, there are some people
because of low self-esteem, they cannot
function or achieve anything directly where
things are working properly. So, they will
always want to create confusion and knock
heads together with a view to benefiting from
it,” he said.
“There have been instances that people have
shown disloyalty to their benefactors, they are
not committed to what they are doing, and at
the end of the day because of this act of
disloyalty and blackmail, they have found
themselves in positions even at the state and
at the federal government. And they believe
that what they used to do in the past, they
can continue today.
“Akwa Ibom people are very enlightened and
educated, and they know the truth.”
The commissioner dismissed media reports
that he and Bassey Albert, the Senator,
representing Uyo Senatorial District, were
engaged in political battle, ahead of the 2019
governorship election in the state.
Both politicians are from the same federal
constituency.
“I do not have any problem with Bassey,
except maybe there’s some other problem
and it (hasn’t been) brought to my
knowledge,” he said.
He also denied reports of a rift between Mr.
Akpabio and Governor Emmanuel.


Source :naijaloaded
Edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE for odogwublog.com