Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank and the former governor of Bayelsa state and newly elected Senator for Bayelsa West, Seriake Dickson have condemned the appointment of a sole administrator to oversee the affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Timi Frank in a statement in Abuja on Monday also gave the Federal Government a 14- day ultimatum to rescind the “illegal” appointment of a Sole Administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) or face legal consequences, while also describing the new appointee, Effiong Akwa, as a cousin of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio. He said it was a betrayal of the Niger Delta people.
Frank also warned the Federal Government to immediately nominate a substantive board for the NDDC as provided for in its establishment Act or face massive streets protests in the Niger Delta region and lawsuit after the expiration of his ultimatum.
He described Akpabio’s claim that Sole Administrators had overseen the affairs of the intervention agency in the past as untenable saying “illegality 20 years ago remains illegality today and tomorrow.”
The Bayelsa-born political activist insisted that that there is no law that says that a statutory board of the NDDC cannot be in place while Akpabio is carrying out his phony forensic audit at the Commission.
He called for the arrest and prosecution of Akpabio for violating his Oath of Office by working against the interest of the people of Niger Delta and the development of the region.
He called on the Governors of the Niger Delta states, Ijaw Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, traditional rulers and all federal lawmakers from the zone to speak up in order to rescue the NDDC and stop attempts to destroy it and by extension the hopes and aspirations of Niger Deltans – living and those yet unborn.
“I appeal to all leaders in the Niger Delta to break their silence on this criminal hijack of the NDDC by Akpabio and his collaborators in the Presidency as God will not forgive us if we allow the future of our children to be mortgaged by greedy ambition and illegal scheming at the Commission,” Frank said.
Frank also called on the National Assembly, especially the leaders of the opposition caucus – Minority Leader in the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndidi Elumelu – to ensure that the 2021 Budget of the NDDC is not approved or handed over to Effiong Akwa for onward delivery to his uncle, Akpabio.
He said that failure to act in the public’s interest on this issue would make the National Assembly an accomplice in the ongoing anti-Niger Delta arrangement to illegally divert the resources of the NDDC by one family.
According to him, the hijack of the NDDC by Akpabio portents doom for the Agency and people of the region who have continued to languish in abject poverty occasioned by environmental degradation following decades of oil exploration in the region.
Seriake Dickson on his part said the Sole Administrator is an illegality which should be corrected immediately.
He also suggested that the capital budget of the Niger Delta Development Commission shouldn’t be implemented by the sole administrator who is unknown to the law.
Dickson made the comment on the floor of the Senate during the consideration of the 2020 budget of the NDDC at the Monday Plenary.
As a fallout of his observation, the Senate rejected the appointment of a sole administrator for the commission and resolved to prevail on the Federal Government to ensure immediate constitution of the board of the NDDC.
The Senate agreed that the appointment of a sole administrator for the NDDC was illegal and indeed an aberration and should be corrected immediately.
Dickson suggested that the Senate should add a condition that while the recurrent part of the NDDC budget could be implemented by the sole administrator, the capital budget should not be implemented by the illegal appointee.
According to him, it is regrettable that the administration of the NDDC has become marred by illegalities such as the appointment of an interim management committee to take over from the dissolved board of the commission.
He said that as a Governor and former Chairman of the South South Governors’ Forum, he had supported the efforts to enthrone transparency and accountability in the NDDC and backed the call on the Federal Government to conduct a forensic audit on the commission.
In passing the budget, the President of Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan, lamented that the Senate was left with the only options of dealing with the Sole Administrator or the IMC both of which are illegal.
The Senate unanimously resolved to pass the budget to ensure the smooth running of the commission while they prevail on the government to constitute the board of the commission as required by the constitution.