Niger Delta stakeholders under
the aegis of Niger Delta Coalition for Unity and Progress has condemned alleged
move to nominate former Delta State governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, as Niger Delta
Development Commission (NDDC) Board of Directors chairman.
In
a statement by its Bayelsa State National Coordinator, Brakemi Akokari, in
Yenagoa, the group said the report in a national daily on December 29, with the
headline, ‘Uduaghan may emerge new NDDC chairman’ could not be true, stressing
it will resist such move.
According
to the group, “while we do not quarrel with the newspaper’s right to speculate
for whatever interests, as the story clearly indicates, we need to place the
current situation in the NDDC in right perspective and state clearly why the
speculation and the contents of the report have to be taken not only with a
pinch of salt but also with heightened circumspection by all stakeholders in
the development of the Niger Delta and Delta State in particular.
“We
are convinced it is a kite being flown by the paper which is owned by former
Delta State governor and cousin to Uduaghan, James Ibori, and points to an
agenda of the Ibori political family to hijack resources of the NDDC.”
The
group noted that the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint and
recognise an interim management committee for the NDDC is his prerogative, but
stated that what is of immediate interest to the coalition, and which should
concern everyone in the region, is the forensic audit which the president has
promised to undertake.
“We
are bothered that this audit has become a bogeyman being used by the Presidency
to delay the inauguration of a board for the NDDC, especially given that the
interim management committee has been in office for close to three months now.
We want the president to pursue the quick audit of the NDDC and thereafter
inaugurate the board,” it said.
Niger
Delta Coalition for Unity and Progress noted that the newspaper report in
question only goes to confirm that there has been high level lobbying for
Uduaghan to be the NDDC chairman and for the dissolution of the
Senate-confirmed board.
URHOBOTODAY
URHOBOTODAY
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