Politics
NDDC Spokesperson Confirms Board Tenure Expired
The Director, Corporate Affairs to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ibitoye Abosede, on Sunday confirmed the tenure of the commission’s governing board had expired.
Mr Abosede, who was reacting to calls to President Muhammadu Buhari, to dissolve the board, said the issue was not new.
The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State had on Sunday appealed to Mr. Buhari to dissolve the board of the agency.
In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, the party insisted the tenure of the board expired in December.
The APC said it was aware of some surreptitious moves by “powerful persons at the Presidency” to extend the tenure of the board beyond the December 8, 2017 tenure.
“Any extension of the tenure of the board is unconstitutional and an attempt to give Cross River and Akwa-Ibom states undue advantage of serving for continuous period of six years as chairman and managing director, respectively, to the detriment of other member states,” the party said in the statement.
“For the fact that it is the turn of Ondo State, as the fifth highest oil producing state in the country, to produce the next managing director of NDDC, President Muhammadu Buhari must compensate the people of Ondo State for their commitment to the party (APC) and the victory of the President in the 2015 presidential election.
“It is on record that of all the nine oil producing states in Nigeria, it was only in Ondo State that President Muhammadu Buhari had an overwhelming victory in the 2015 presidential election and we have not been so compensated,” the APC said.
But responding to questions by this newspaper, Mr. Abosede said it was not a new thing to say the tenure of the NDDC board has expired.
“If you are current and if you have been around for more than three to four months, you will know it is not a new thing. There is nothing to talk about,” he said on the telephone.
“The president is the one that appoints and not the NDDC and not me. So it has been more than four months. It is nothing new. They are not saying anything new. That’s my take though.
“Are you new? Have you not been in the country all this while? I am sorry to answer that question,” Mr. Abosede said arrogantly.
President Buhari had in July 2016 appointed a former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, the new chairman of the commission.
Read Also: APC Urges President Buhari To Dissolve NDDC Board
Also appointed was a former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Nsima Ekere, as the managing director of the commission.
Mr. Ekere succeeded Ibim Semenitari, who had been the acting managing director of the commission since December 2015.
