Sylvester Idowu in Warri
A group, Community Development Committees (CDC) of Oil and Gas Producing Areas of Niger Delta, has condemned the incessant attacks on the tenure of the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Samuel Ogbuku.
CDC, in a statement issued weekend by its Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT), Joseph Ambadekerimo, noted that the high leadership turnout at the commission was repulsive and counterproductive to the development of the region.
It affirmed that President Bola Tinubu, as a true democrat, lover of rule of law and believer in the sanctity of due process, would not fall into the trap being set by those against Ogbuku for selfish reasons rather than the development of the Niger Delta.
“We know as a matter of fact that the president will never authorise a dictatorial violation of the constitution irrespective of who is involved.
“It is crucial to add that the president will never support any action that is capable of generating rating bloodbath and bloodshed anywhere including the Niger Delta region, a region that the president holds dear and has given marching orders to the Managing Director of the NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku, to bring up to speed in line with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Developmental Agenda for the region,” it added.
The group maintained that it would continue to express disgust and revulsion at what is happening in the NDDC until the right thing is done, adding: “Enough of this trajectory we all seem to be trying to accept as normal when in the true sense of the word is morally wrong and reprehensible.
“The very idea of incessant political interference in the leadership of the NDDC should be a non starter in all its ramifications and it has to be discouraged,” it added.
CDC enjoined all people of good conscience to condemn and oppose the incessant attacks on the management of the interventionist agency.
“Even when we believe that we now have a man of good conscience with a forward looking team that has shown capacity, we continue to fight to destroy government’s good intentions for the region?
“With the exigency of time, it behoves us from the region to appeal to the president to intervene for purposes of clarity and bring this ugly trend to a final stop to enable this board to stay focused and serve the good people of the region.
“Dr. Ogbuku’s tenure as the Managing Director/CEO of NDDC, is still subsisting and this has been clarified by the Honourable Minister for Development Commission, Mr. Abubakar Momoh, penultimate week, yet some persons are hell bent on destabilising the region for personal gains,” it stated.
CDC insisted that it was only the president that has the power to determine the tenure of his appointees with recourse to the extant provisions of the Act establishing the commission with focus on section 3 (1) which stipulates thus: “Subject to the provisions of section 4 of this Act, a member of the Board, other than the ex-officio member, shall hold office for a term of 4 years at the first instance and may be re-appointed for a further term of 4 years and no more.
“We want the focus to be on this section 3 (1) of the NDDC establishment Act which the president relied upon to appoint the present occupant of the office of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and not some extraneous factors of disjointed arguments.
“We have never had a better NDDC board better performed than this one headed by Samuel Ogbuku. We have seen a paradigm shift in infrastructural development dotted across the region by this board at the direction of Samuel Ogbuku.
“The question to bother our minds should be why is it that it is only the NDDC Managing Director leadership tussle that is always in the news, is it not shameful that we turnout ourselves cheap to the outside world, not knowing that we shoot ourselves on the foot, because squabble like this will affect the focus of the officers who hitherto have proven themselves to be effective in governance.”
The group maintained that a tussle in the management of the commission as portrayed in a section of social media reports only existed in the imagination of the authors of “an hack job spread in the social media space which has no bearing with the reality on ground”.
It urged the president not to take the bait sold to him by those who do not wish him and the entire region well, adding: “Just when we are beginning to have an upward swing in crude oil production as a result of the policy thrust of the Tinubu administration towards the Niger Delta area which has translated to more revenue inflow into government coffers, we are seeing agents of destabilisation pushing a different sinister agenda altogether in the region.
“We urge our people to help tone down the renewed anxiety for violence and destabilisation in the region.
“We have been taken on a circus show for too long on matters of interference in the leadership of the NDDC which has impacted negatively on the rapid development of the Niger Delta area. Let there be continuity in consonance with the relevant provisions as enshrined in the Act establishing the commission in line with the rule of law.”
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