By Zik Gbemre
With reports that some stakeholders of the Niger Delta region, recently suggested that the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi and other top All Progressive Congress (APC), leaders from the oil-rich region should urgently meet to find a way out of the heated controversy over the appointment of an Interim Administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), let me reiterate once again that the said impasse was created by President Muhammadu Buhari, whom I believe should be the one that can, and should address it without any further delay.
Truth is, there was no such impasse before President Buhari came with his plans that are in complete disregard to the dictates of the Act setting up the NDDC, and he created the confusion and disagreements we see today in the Commission.
President Buhari DELIBERATELY created all the problem and conflicts we see today in the NDDC for reasons best known to him. And may be because he does not want the NDDC to survive in his administration. No person placed a gun on Buhari’s head and forced him to appoint the initial NDDC Board executive members. Nobody forced President Buhari to send the list of the said appointed NDDC Board Executive members to the Senate for clearance and approval as required by the law. So, after the Senate lawfully approved the said NDDC Board, one would have expected President Buhari to simply perform the ceremony of the swearing-in of the NDDC Executive Board members to enable them start work. President Buhari decided instead, to completely ignore the same NDDC Board Executive members, and unilaterally appointed an NDDC Interim Management Committee (IMC), whose members had a field day with the funds of the Commission. Even after the sack of the said IMC, after much pressure from the public and the exposure of their financial atrocities, he again appointed another Interim administrator. Let’s also not forget that President Buhari placed the NDDC under the control of Akpabio as Minister of the Niger Delta. All of which are in complete contravention of the law establishing the NDDC. Who does that?
In other words, whatever impasse, controversies and disagreements we see today in the NDDC, judging from the analysis above, were apparently created by President Buhari for no benefit of the entire people of the Niger-Delta. Except those that are being used to create the artificial crises in the NDDC.
Zik Gbemre.
January 21, 2021
*We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes*
