There was widespread jubilation in Bayelsa State over the nomination of Dr Samuel Ogbuku as the substantive Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Ogbuku, an ally of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva was the Chief of Staff, Government House during the tenure of the latter.

He is also a kinsman of former President Goodluck Jonathan as he hails from Ayakoro in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Many Bayelsans who took to social media to congratulate Ogbuku described the PhD holder in Development Studies as qualified for the job based on his track record advocating and setting developmental agenda for the Niger Delta region.

Ogbuku, was a member of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) pressing for the development of the Niger Delta and was part of the team that assisted Sylva draft the blueprint for the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

Ijaw leaders represented by the Ijaw National Congress (INC) and the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) had been at the forefront of those championing the inauguration of a substantive board of the NDDC.

The INC President, Prof Benjamin Ogele Okaba, and the spokesman of the IYC, Ebilade Erekefe had severally criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for allowing former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio foist an interim administrator on the NDDC.

Various Niger Delta groups had threatened to prevent the All Progressive Congress (APC) from campaigning in the Niger Delta if the NDDC board was not inaugurated.

Meanwhile, the IYC has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for nominating a seasoned administrator from Bayelsa State, Chief Samuel Ogbuku, as the substantive Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The President of the IYC, Timothy Peter Igbifa, in a statement, said Wednesday’s announcement of the much-awaited board members on the floor of the Senate had brought relief to the council and all stakeholders in the Niger Delta.

According to him, the proposed board when inaugurated would re-establish the democratic administration of the commission as envisaged by the Act establishing the NDDC and the era of autocratic impunity of the interventionist agency.

He said the nomination of Chief Samuel Ogbuku, a Bayelsan from Ogbia Local Government Area, as the substantive Managing Director was in agreement with the NDDC Act insisting that “it is the right of Bayelsa to produce the MD”.

Igbifa, however, urged the Senate not to delay the screening of the board nominees to avoid unnecessary politicking capable of derailing the directive of President Buhari and aborting the collective hope of the Niger Delta.

He described Ogbuku as a well-read seasoned administrator, who understood the problems and challenges of the Niger Delta with the capacity to confront them, insisting that his appointment is deserved.

“We have no doubt that Chief Samuel Ogbuku’s nomination is deserved. He is well-read with an adequate understanding of the problems of the Niger Delta and possessed the capacity to tackle them,” he said. (Daily Sun)

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