N/Delta activists protest NDDC Board tenure elongation

  

    The coalition of Niger Delta activists from the eastern fringe has protest the purported extension of the tenure of the present Chairman and Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board.

    A jointly signed statement by Comrade Alali Bokutengo, Barr Miebaka Harrison, Nsan Ebirien and Cordelia Etuk-Udo who are the leaders of the coalition said that the purported elongation of the tenure of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egbe (Chairman) and Obong Nsima Ekere (Managing Director) of the commission is criminal, offensive and an anathema to the peace and development in the Niger Delta region and the harmonious co-existence of all ethnic nationalities in the nine oil producing states. They said that if the report that the ‘extension coup’ was originated through a legal memo by Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, was anythibg to go by, it contradict the extant/explicit provisions of the relevant sections of the NDDC Act.

   

   “Section 4 of the NDDC Act, provided for the rotation of Chairmanship of the board as between “member states” to wit: “The office of the Chairmanship rotate amongst the member states of the commission in the following alphabetical order, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers states.  They said that in the 16 years of the NDDC, Section 4 and 5 (2) had always applied ad cited year 2000 when Godwin Omene from Delta State was the Managing Director. Omene had hitches and left and Emmanuel Agwariavwodo completed Omene’s tenure.

  

    “He did not start a new term as Nsima is seeking to procure from the black market. What a misnomer? Two instances of 4 year tenure,” they said.  They also faulted a letter from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), saying the letter refuting the elongation was an afterthought and which then lead to more questions. They therefore call for the constitution of a new board after the expiration of the current on which terminate not later than the 15th December, 2017.