By MIKE ODIEGWU, Port Harcourt

The Wailing Women of the Niger Delta (WWND) has threatened to name and shame persons behind the embezzlement of funds allocated to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The women, in a statement by their Coordinator, Odighonin Adienbo, said they had every reasonable suspicion that some people were manipulating President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain the current administration in the NDDC to enable them amass wealth to bankroll their 2023 ambitions.

Adienbo said: “Beyond our lines of advocacy, in the coming days, we shall name and shame suspected saboteurs who are embezzling allocations to the NDDC and publish the total sum allocated to the current illegal sole administrator under the current Minister for Niger Delta Affairs. This is with a view to demand accountability.

“We wish to ask Mr. President whether the current state of the NDDC, where it is questionably put at the behest and mercy of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF, both jointly and severally, is a reflection of the legacy he wants to leave for the Niger Delta people.

“Mr. President should be reminded that he has about a year left to exit office and so it is curious that the NDDC may have been classified as a special purpose vehicle by a corrupt few to bankroll the 2023 general election for self-serving purposes, while the president looks the other way.

“We have a correspondence letter from the AGF and the Niger Delta Affairs Minister where the AGF on his part insisted that no section of the NDDC Act is in breach as per its current composition and modus operandi despite public and stakeholders outcry of treachery to the contrary.

“The Niger Delta Minister wrote to us, extricating himself by copiously accusing President Buhari of being responsible for whatever state the NDDC currently is and asking us to go to him with our demands.

“The big question is: What have the funds coming to the NDDC been used for since the illegal appointment of a life sole administrator in sheer defiance to the NDDC Act without a properly constituted board? More so as contractors are not being paid and no projects are embarked upon under the guise of forensic audit report. The current situation in the region can only be likened to a crime against humanity and we will not accept it.” (The Nation)

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