Akpabio goes ballistic on media firm over ‘purported fake’ news

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio has described an online news platform, PointBlank as a peddler of fake news who has been used in the recent past to publish a series of unsubstantiated news to smear the reputation of government officials.

Akpabio stated this in statement while reacting to a news item published by the platform where it was alleged that himself and two other top officials of the NDDC were grilled by the Department of State Security over massive fraud in the Commission.

While dismissing the report as a fake news intended to bring his person into disrepute, Akpabio said he is only the latest victim of the orchestrated plot by some people who recruited PointBlank to do their hatchet job.

“It is obvious that Pointblank News has been recruited by people who have fleeced the Niger Delta people through contract scams and they are scared of the ongoing forensic audit of the NDDC as ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Their modus operandi is to churn out fake news and weave a hysterical narrative of corruption in the NDDC in a bid to truncate the forensic audit and stop Senator Akpabio from sanitizing the Commission,” Akpabio said Tuesday in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Anietie Ekong.

He noted that “no responsible news website can make such an allegation without any shred of evidence to back up its claim, neither did they even attempt to confirm this spurious report by reaching out to the Agency concerned which could have dismissed it out rightly.”

“With the recent inauguration of the last batch of the field forensic auditors by the Honourable Minister, as approved by the Federal Executive Council, with the charge to unravel those behind the pillaging of the commonwealth of the Niger Delta people over the years, the public should not be surprised by these rogue publications in the coming days. They have dedicated a part of their loot to sponsor the blackmail of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

“However, we wish to state that no amount of sponsored fake news and blackmail would deter Senator Akpabio as the Supervising Minister of the NDDC from doing the right thing as directed by Mr. President. The Minister has the overwhelming support of the impoverished masses of the Niger Delta who have borne the brunt of underdevelopment of the region over the years.”