NDDC Board: Group rejects Buhari's 15 member list

By Editor

 A group under the aegis  Coalition of Niger Delta Development Activists has rejected the list of fifteen member board of the Niger Delt Development Commission, NDDC sent to the Senate for screening and subsequent confirmation.

The  group led by  Comrade  Lokiri Odudu held a peaceful protest from the Unity Fountain to the National Assembly gate kicking against the list and asking the Senate not to screen them.

President  Muhammadu Buhari had on 23 November  written the Senate, seeking for the confirmation of  his  Special Assistant on new Media, Lauretta Ifeanyi Onochie from Delta as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Onochie's name was sent along side fourteen others to the Senate.

President Buhari who wrote the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, said that the Correspondent was in accordance with the provisions of Section 2(2)A of the NDDC Act, Cap N 86, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The letter was read by Lawan on the floor of the Senate during plenary.

Buhari's letter read, "Dear Distinguished Senate President, confirmation of appointments of Chairman and members of the Niger Delta Development Commission."

Comrade Lokiri  Odudu who  noted  that the list was  a clear violation of several provisions of the NDDC establishment act and that the President was being misled by some selfish elements in furtherance of actions that encourage the breach of the constitution he swore an oath to protect and defend, further questioned why the previous list of the NDDC executives was abandoned for a new one. 

He said, “You will recall that Mr President had withheld the inauguration of His Excellency Dr Pius Odugbu-led board of NDDC that was confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on the 15th of November 2019 on the grounds that Mr President had ordered a forensic audit at the NDDC with a view to arresting the entrenched corruption and institutional decay that has bedeviled the commission and derailed it from achieving its goal of maximizing government intervention for the development of the oil producing states.

“It is therefore worrisome that three years after that painstaking exercise geared towards ridding the commission of corruption, known corrupt individuals are now being considered for juicy appointments into the commission, ostensibly to impede the weeding process currently ongoing at the commission. 

“This speaks directly to the intent of Mr President who got the mandate of an overwhelming majority of Nigerians to pilot the affairs of this great nation owing to his untainted integrity and uncompromising stance against corruption. Mr President must be wary of corrupt individuals who are working hard to drag his anti corruption reputation to the gutters.”

He further lamented that people with questionable character are now being rewarded with another round of juicy appointments instead of being reprimanded for their roles in pilfering the common patrimony of the Niger Delta people, adding, “We are worried that the recent list sent to the senate by Mr President for confirmation has not followed the due process of the law as it has breached a very key provision of the NDDC establishment act.

“For instance, Section 2(2b) of the NDDC act provides in unambiguous terms, that the chairman and other members of the board shall be persons of proven integrity and ability. We regret that the list forwarded to the Senate by Mr President has a suspected murderer and known cultist as Managing Director.

“I dare state without any fear of the contradiction that Chief Samuel Ogbokwu, Mr President’s nominee, from Bayelsa state, for the position of MD of NDDC is a man of questionable character who was arrested for murder in 2014 and spent 6months in Okaka prison.

“We are jittery that our dear president is being misled by some selfish elements in furtherance of actions that encourage the breach of the constitution he swore an oath to protect and defend.”

The group  called on well-meaning Nigerians and “true sons and daughters of the Niger Delta region, to rise to the occasion opposed our common patrimony being left in the hands of an individual with many corruption baggages. NDDC is for the development of the Niger Delta region and not for the self aggrandizement of a few."