A group, Committed Members, CM, of All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Niger Delta, have told Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Obong Umana Okon Umana, to forget any support from the region for the party in 2023 general elections, after the delay in inauguration of Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) Board.
The group insisted that the continued stay in office of a Sole Administrator in the commission is in flagrant violation of the NDDC Act.
In a statement jointly signed by the trio of Ebibomo Akpoebide, Menegbo Nwinuamene, and Itam Edem, the APC members noted that the ongoing illegality of administering NDDC with a Sole Administrator contraption has a negative consequences on the party.
The group stated that the ill-treatment of the Niger Delta region since 2019 has set the party back in many ways.
The statement urged the Minister to correct the rot in the commission and win back the trust of the people with the view to regain the foothold before the next general election, which is very crucial.
The statement read in party ” The ill-treatment of the Niger Delta region since 2019 has set the party back in many respects in the region, but we are still hopeful that with your concerted efforts, in concert with stakeholders we can regain our footholds before the next general election, which is very crucial.
” This is why we are glad that your appointment as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs offers a chance to correct the ills and win back the trust of our people.”
” The Federal Government’s delay to inaugurate the Commission’s substantive board is of “grave concern to Niger Deltans as it indicates a continued disregard by this government for the region as well as unwillingness to submit to transparency in administering NDDC. We are further dismayed that despite further assurances that the submission of the report would see to the inauguration of the board, it has not ended the delays, manipulations and hijacking of the NDDC by vested interests. This foremost federal government agency set up to right the wrongs in the Niger Delta over the years is still being run by a sole administrator appointed in breach of the NDDC Act.”
The group also reminded the Minister that several groups including the “prominent Niger Delta Rescue Movement (NDRM) have already vowed not to back the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections following the illegalities in the NDDC and the delay to inaugurate a substantive board of the NDDC.”
The group advised that against the “relentless legitimate demands of stakeholders, it is in our best interest to keep a good legacy by abiding by the law establishing NDDC, especially as we are in a contest to elect a new President for the country in an election that is projected to be hotly contested.
” This government’s breach of the laws guiding the establishment of an agency created to develop an impoverished region is not in good taste, especially when it looks like the forensic audit was a smokescreen for some people in the Federal Government to fleece the resources meant for our people.”
According to the APC committed members, “The most salient issue that the authentic stakeholders of the Niger Delta has consistently demanded, and which even President Buahri had promised and made commitments on is to end the illegal Interim Management and sole administratorship at the NDDC and inaugurate the Board of the Commission in compliance with the law, and which promise he made to the nation on June 24, 2021 when he received the leadership of Ijaw National Congress (INC) in Aso Rock, Abuja.
” President Buhari also reiterated his promise to inaugurate the Commission’s Board at the recently concluded retreat of your Ministry and NDDC, which ended on July 29, 2022.”
It will be recalled that President Buhari made a commitment to the nation on the 24th day of June 2021, while receiving the Ijaw National Congress (INC) at the State House in Abuja that the NDDC Board would be inaugurated as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted.
The President said: ‘‘Based on the mismanagement that had previously bedeviled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July, 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated.” The group observed that the Forensic audit report has been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari eleven months ago, since September 2, 2021 but the Board is yet to be inaugurated.