Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, stormed the residence of Joy Nunieh, former acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and freed her from police siege.
The governor arrived at her residence in the state on Thursday morning and ordered armed policemen around out of the way. He then proceeded to enter the house, and was seen driving her off in his convoy.
Policemen had laid siege at Nunieh’s residence hours to her appearance before a national assembly panel investigating the NDDC.
Omoni Nnamdi, spokesman of Rivers police command, had told TheCable he was not aware of the siege which was said to have begun about 4:30am.
An associate of the ex-NDDC MD had shared her message on the incident: ”This morning, I started hearing people at my gate at about 4:30am. I was trying to prepare to come down, to catch the first flight to Abuja. So I wondered, then I sent my girl there. She said that it is police people and they said I should follow them,” Nunieh had said.
“I said this morning? What if they come and shoot me at 5:00, I am not following anybody.”
Akpabio and Nunieh have been at loggerheads which came to the fore when they appeared before the senate ad hoc panel investigating the alleged mismanagement of N40 billion by the interim management committee (IMC) of the NDDC.
At the hearing, Akpabio said he did not know the expenditure of the NDDC under Nunieh because she refused to give him briefings, but she claimed this is false.
She said the minister engineered her removal for failing to dance to his tunes and made several allegations against him, including sexual harassment, budget padding and fraud.
In the heat of their disagreement and the theatrics of the NDDC probe, the Rivers state government said nothing must happen to Nunieh.
“We wish to state that while we are not interested in identifying with the present unfolding drama in the NDDC, we will not however fail to protect our daughter from actual harm or perceived danger,” Paul Nsirim, the state commissioner for information, had said.