Hmm, that's a very strange assertion, I've never seen Android tem "pretend that NDK doesn't exist".
NDK is just a preconfigured GCC for cross-compilation anyway (with custom build script). Native C code compiled with NDK is used all over Android core and it's used regularly in apps to provide speed boosts. But it has practically no access to Android APIs (with exception of OpenGL/OpenAL some sensors and bitmap functions) so it's totally unsuited for development of a full app in C or C++. It's role is pretty much the same as C code in python libraries - to provide boosts for performance critical code.
Taking that into account, I really have no idea who acts like "NDK doesn't exist". It's widely used, it's just not suitable as a main way of developing an app.
NDK is just a preconfigured GCC for cross-compilation anyway (with custom build script). Native C code compiled with NDK is used all over Android core and it's used regularly in apps to provide speed boosts. But it has practically no access to Android APIs (with exception of OpenGL/OpenAL some sensors and bitmap functions) so it's totally unsuited for development of a full app in C or C++. It's role is pretty much the same as C code in python libraries - to provide boosts for performance critical code.
Taking that into account, I really have no idea who acts like "NDK doesn't exist". It's widely used, it's just not suitable as a main way of developing an app.