The acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei has slumped at the House of Representatives when he was under cross examination from lawmakers.
The acting managing director of NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei went unconscious and almost fainted during the ongoing #NDDCProbe #NDDCfraudfacts pic.twitter.com/xRpzzz09pq
— Chronicle NG (@chronicle_ng) July 20, 2020
Chronicle NG reports that Mr. Pondei has been rushed to the hospital from the National Assembly.
As at the time of filing this report, the committee had declared 30 minutes break before it will reconvene to cross examine the Minister of Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Akpabio was summoned last week to answer to fraudulent allegations by the former acting Interim Management Committee (IMC) managing director of NDDC, Joi Nunieh.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, are investigating alleged corruption around procurement at the NDDC, a government body, over 20 years. The probe was ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari in October.
Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta heartland remains impoverished despite providing most of the oil produced in Africa’s biggest crude exporter. Oil is Nigeria’s main export and the mainstay of its economy, the continent’s largest.
Earlier, Pondei told the panel: “There is no money missing in NDDC since I took over in February this year. Everything we have done are in accordance with the laid-down procedures.”
After he fainted, people around Pondei rushed to sit him upright, using handkerchiefs as fans and forcing his mouth open in an apparent attempt to ensure he was not choking.
“I have asked my doctor to follow, go to the hospital where he is and report back,” House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila later told the panel.
