Stakeholders drawn from the Niger Delta, weekend, notified President Muhammadu Buhari that a powerful cabal in Abuja connected to the Presidency was still holding the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, by the balls, despite the resignation of Senator Godswill Akpabio as Minister of Niger-Delta Affairs.

Saddened by the forgoing, the stakeholders called on Buhari to stop the desperate cabal before it succeeds in its mission of ruining the agency and without much ado.

They urged him to hearken to the cry of the people to inaugurate the governing board of NDDC, screened and approved since 2019 by the Senate.

They explained further that the cabal have been undermining the oil region and suggested to President Buhari what should be done to give a kiss of life to the rudderless organization.

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Speaking, National Publicity Secretary, Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Hon. Ken Robinson, said: “We do not suppose that Akpabio was the main problem of NDDC.

“The primary problem is the callous indifference of the Buhari presidency to issues of the Niger Delta region. Under the supervision of Senator Godswill Akpabio as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, NDDC was attenuated to a political porch with all manner of deplorable theatrics.

“The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in itself was virtually reduced to a bureau of NDDC, but Mr. President watched on like an uninterested spectator. We, therefore, do not expect any reasonable changes in the administration of the NDDC under this presidency despite the said resignation of Godswil Akpabio; let them prove us wrong.”

On his part, President, Ijaw National Congress, INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, informed Buhari: “Set up /inaugurate the governing board according to the laws establishing the NDDC without further delay. Provide the needful to enable the new board function maximally.”

Also lending his voice to the call, Publisher of Environment Watch, Elder Braeyi Ekiye, said: “The ingenious contrivance to get the NDDC administered through the interim administration was a calculated attempt to advance the cause of power brokers in Abuja, whose main interest, together with their collaborators, is to rip the commission clean and dry of its financial allocations, so much so that, it has unfortunately stultified the region’s rapid socio-economic and infrastructural transformation.”

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”It is our ardent hope that the on-going despicable ‘dance of the devil’ in the NDDC in wild celebration of the Forensic Audit Report put away in the coolers would stop forthwith, with the unceremonious departure of Senator Godswill Akpabio, lord of the estate of the Commission.

“As long as this masquerade dance lasts, the dark clouds of the dance shall continue to provide cover for the task masters and their comrades-in- arm to scoop remnants of fast depleting financial resources of the interventionist agency.”

Former national president, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Eric Omare, Esq., who raved on Akpabio, said: “We Niger Deltans based on verifiable facts strongly believed that Akpabio was responsible for the mismanagement of NDDC in the past three years. Now that he is out of the way, we expect President Buhari to immediately publish the outcome of the forensic audit, bring those who have embezzled.

“NDDC resources to book and as a matter of importance, inaugurate the board of the NDDC in line with its establishment Act. However, I doubt if this would done because the cabal members who have been with Akpabio I do not think are out of government. They may still be in the corridors of power and continue with the NDDC”, he said.

For Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Warri branch, Chief Emmanuel Uti: “I do not subscribe to the notion that it was Senator Akpabio that frustrated the NDDC board. My opinion is that, it is President Buhari that was not keen on the existence of the board. My take is that Senator Akpabio out or not, it all depends on the President’s disposition.”

Constitutional lawyer, Dr. Akpor Mudiaga-Odje, intoned: “With or without Akpabio, what we, the pauperized people of the Niger Delta, earnestly yearn for is inauguration without any further delay, the board as duly cleared by the Senate in 2019, almost three years ago.”

Chairman, Centre for Environmental Preservation and Development, CEPAD, Surv. Furoebi Akene, said: “To start with, subjecting the supervision/overseeing of the NDDC to the Minister (Ministry) of Niger Delta Affairs is illegal and is a misnomer against the provisions of the NDDC establishment Act of 2000. The Act put the NDDC under the supervision by the presidency.”

Spokesman, Niger Delta Rights Advocates and All Progressives Congress chieftain in Rivers, Darlington Nwauju, said: “And as the appointer, President Buhari should immediately appoint substantive Ministers to that Ministry with a matching order to inaugurate a substantive board for the NDDC, publish the report of the forensic audit on NDDC and lastly, deliver on the East-West Road project.”

Chairman Board of Trustees, Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade, CHURAC, Cleric Ebikonbowei Alaowei, Esq., said: “We pray that nothing should bring Akpabio back to that office again. Buhari should also immediately inaugurate the NDDC board if he means well for the development of the Niger Delta region. Mr. President should take immediate steps to investigate the commission for the periods Sen. Akpabio held it sway.”

On his part, President Ijaw Professionals Association (Homeland Chapter), which comprises Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers, Iniruo Wills, asserted: “The president and presidency cabal obviously do not give a hoot whether there is NDDC or it has a lawful management or not.

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“The Niger Delta will remember this president as the one who set a notorious record of allowing NDDC to be under a series of illegal managements for four and a half years, which is more than the full four-year term prescribed even for a legitimate Governing Board by the enabling law.

”Obviously, the president does not have any lawyer around that can give him conscionable advice on the matter, so if he likes let him appoint a Pakistani as the next NDDC sole administrator. We are tired of complaining about this unprecedented executive callousness. At worst, in another one year we can say good riddance”, he added.

VANGUARD.