ON THE SUPPOSED INAUGURATION OF ODUBU/OKUMAGBA-LED NDDC BOARD – AKPABIO’S ANTICS MAY HEAT-UP THE NIGER DELTA AREA

By Zik Gbemre

We consider it necessary to lend our voice to the recent reports that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has given reasons why the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which recently got the Senate’s approval, has not been inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari. He stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has not inaugurated the new board over the lingering face-off among stakeholders in the region because the newly approved NDDC board, according to him, runs afoul of the act establishing the commission. According to Akpabio also, the act establishing the Commission supposedly shows that it is the turn of Bayelsa State to produce the Managing Director of the Commission and not Delta State.

On this, we would like to ask, where was Akpabio when the President appointed the NDDC Board? Why did he wait for the Senate to approve the Odubu/Okumagba-led NDDC Board before coming out with such excuses? Of what use then, or the reason, for appointing an Interim NDDC Board? Is President Muhammadu Buhari not aware that Akpabio is heating up the Niger Delta with this undue delay of inaugurating the NDDC Board to take charge of the commission, with this latest stunt? Between the interim board of Akpabio and the NDDC Board appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, which is more legal, and has followed due process?

We have reiterated the fact that President Buhari should simply ask the already confirmed NDDC Board to resume duty as soon as possible. What sort of inauguration of the board are they waiting for? The appointment of the NDDC Board members by the President, which went through the screening and confirmation by the Senate, is the proper inauguration that is required, and nothing more. The said Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, does not have the power to prevent the appointed and legally confirmed members from resuming their duties. The inauguration of this and that board, is becoming a new unnecessary development and trend in this administration. The President should simply direct the appointed board members to resume duties, as far as their appointments have been legalized by the Senate.

We really do not understand what sort of inauguration is Akpabio talking about? The screening and confirmation of the NDDC Board by the Senate is the only official inauguration. When the President appointed his Cabinet Ministers and they were screened and confirmed by the Senate, was there any other special inauguration that was required before they started executing their duties? So, why is Akpabio now complicating issues with the NDDC Board? His actions are obviously that of a man whose intentions concerning the NDDC Board, is not in the interest of the Niger Delta people. Akpabio’s shenanigans concerning the NDDC Board, reeks of a man who has a self-driven interest in Niger Delta Affairs. This is what President Buhari must seek to prevent.

I do not know why our democracy is often turned “UPSIDE DOWN” with strange words and actions of political office holders. What is exactly is an inauguration? Is there anything like the inauguration of NDDC Board members in the Nigerian Constitution? The NDDC Board members and their portfolios have already been announced by President Buhari and confirmed by the Senate. What more is Akpabio asking for? Why are Nigerians political office holders creating avenues for unnecessary and uncalled for ceremonies here and there? No one forced the President by placing a gun on his head to appoint the new NDDC Board. And no one forced him to submit the list of the NDDC Board members and their portfolios to the Senate for screening and confirmation. More so, Akpabio remains an appointed government official. So, the idea of allowing Ministers to do whatever they like is absolutely bad.

President Buhari was elected to govern the entire Nigeria, which includes the Niger Delta area. But Akpabio, was not elected to govern any area. So, I see no reason why President Buhari will allow Akpabio to be rocking the boat. With his antics in the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Akpabio has shown to all that he is indeed a greedy Nigerian Politician, who despite losing his Senatorial election, he abandoned the ordered re-run and has now found his way into the President’s Cabinet, all because of greed. Akpabio has proven to be a man that is without integrity. Hence, I am surprised that the President is still keeping such a shameless politician in his Cabinet. Truth be told, if President Buhari means well for the people of the Niger Delta area, he would not have appointed such a man like Akpabio in the first place.

Some Nigerians will doubt the integrity of the present Buhari-led Administration for carrying on board, the likes of Akpabio as a favoured Minister. El-Rufia once said that, though the Constitution requires that a Minister be appointed from every State of the Federation, but it does not say the President should appoint a man that is without integrity. It is the responsibility of the President to appoint good people that will support his administration and do things in the interest of the people, not the other way round.
Zik Gbemre.
December 14, 2019

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