Protests by Senators from oil producing communities and a court injunction against the nominees of President Muhammadu Buhari for the position of chairman, managing director and executive director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, is currently threatening their confirmation by the Senate.

After series of crises which delayed the composition of a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission, President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, November 23, asked the Senate to confirm the appointment of his Special Assistant on New Media, Lauretta Ifeanyi-Onochie, as the Chairman of the reconstituted Board of the Commission.

Buhari’s letter was read at plenary by the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan.

The list also included 14 others as Managing Director, Executive Directors and members of the Board.

Lawan said the President appointed Ifeanyi-Onochie from Delta State as the Chairman, representing the South- South geopolitical zone on the board. He also appointed Chief Samuel Ogbokwu, from Bayelsa State, as the Managing Director, who would serve for two years, in order to complete the term of his predecessor.

Other members are, Dimgba Erugba, representing Abia State, Dr. Emem Willcox Wills ( Akwa Ibom), Elder Denyanbofa Dimaro (Bayelsa State), Hon. Orok Duke (Cross River) and Dr. Pius Odudu ( Edo State).

They also included Engineer Anthony Ekenne, (Imo State), Hon. Gbenga Edema (Ondo State), Elekwachi Dimkpa (Rivers State), Alhaji Mohammed Kabir Abubakar, (Nasarawa State, representing North-Cenral zone), Alhaji Sadiq Sami Sule – Ikoh ( Kebbi State, North-West) and Prof. Tahir Mamman SAN, (Adamawa State, North-East)

The President also nominated Major-General Charles Airhiavbere (rtd) from Edo State as the (Executive Director, Finance) and Charles Ogunmola, from Ondo State, as the Executive Director, Projects.

The first protest against the list was from the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who pointed that Delta State was not fully represented on the board of the NDDC as read at plenary. He explained that the NDDC Act stipulates that there should be another nominee from any state that produces the Chairman.

Omo-Agege maintained that since Onochie is from the state, there must be another nominee to serve on the board from Delta.

Also, Senator Thompson Sekibo from Rivers State, wondered why President Buhari should send a fresh list to the Senate since the red chamber had earlier screened and confirmed in 2020 the president’s nominees who were not inaugurated.

In his response, the Senate President assured Omo-Agege, that the attention of the executive would be drawn to the issue before the parliament would start the screening exercise.

Lawan also said the concerns raised by Sekibo had been overtaken by events because President Buhari had written to the Senate to explain reasons the earlier screened and confirmed nominees in 2020 were rejected by him.

It took Lawan, two weeks to refer the screening of the nominees to the Committee on the Niger Delta Affairs, based on the points raised by his colleagues.

The screening exercise was presided over by the Acting Chairman of the Committee , Senator Amos Bulus, who stood in for the substantive Chairman, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi.

Members of the panel resolved that the President should replace Mr. Charles Ogunmola as the Executive Director (Projects)

Their reason was that the three federal lawmakers representing Ondo State in the Senate, Senators Nicholas Tofowomo (PDP Ondo South), Ayo Akinyelure (PDP Ondo Central) and Ajayi Boroffice (APC Ondo North), opposed Ogunmola’s confirmation.

The Ondo Senators petition was addressed to the Senate President, and was read during the screening of the new NDDC Board nominees by the Acting Chairman of the Committee.

The federal lawmakers in their petition, argued that the Act of the National Assembly which established the NDDC had been breached with the nomination of Ogunmola, who they said , is not an indigene of the oil producing area of the State.

They urged Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, to liaise with the paramount ruler of Ugbo Kingdom, in the oil-rich Ilaje community of the state, Oba Frederick Akinruntan, and present an indigene from the area to President Muhammadu Buhari for appointment.

They noted that Ogunmola, who is an indigene of Owo town in the Ondo North Senatorial District is not qualified to hold the position based on the NDDC Act.

Senators Tofowomo and Akinyelure, who later addressed journalists on the matter said their colleague, Boroffice who is from Ogunmola’s Senatorial District, signed the joint petition because he knew the implication of clearing the nominee, being the Deputy Leader of the Senate.

They expressed fears that there could be a breakdown of law and order in the oil bearing communities of Ondo State if Ogunmola was imposed on the state.

Tofowomo said, “In the last 22 years, Ondo State has not benefited from any managerial position at the NDDC. Now they have recommended someone from Owo town, a non-oil producing area in the northern senatorial district of the state as executive director in charge of projects.

“The distance of Owo, from where crude oil is being produced in Ondo State is about 200 kilometres, hence the three senators from our state have therefore rejected the nominee.

“We are hereby appealing to the President to follow the NDDC Act. Section 1 (12) which stipulates that only people from the oil producing communities could be appointed. The only place oil is produced in Ondo State is Ilaje Local Government Area.

“If the President should insist on imposing Ogunmola on the people, the youths would shut down oil production in Ondo State and the government is by that, creating another war because people are hungry.”

Also speaking on the issue, Akinyelure said, “the Ondo oil producing communities is under the paramount ruler of Ugbo Kingdom, Oba Obateru Akinruntan. He should be consulted to forward a name to the relevant authorities for nomination as executive director in charge of projects”.

Some committee members also punctured the nomination of Onochie, who they argued, is not an indigene of the oil producing part of Delta State. The development resulted to a heated debate.

Onochie had while addressing the panel said, “I hail from a community that produces all kinds of agricultural products that have not been properly harnessed.

“These are some of the things we will work on to be able to bring food to the table of our people and to empower our people.

“Since the announcement of my nomination, I have received thousands of applications from our young people wanting to be personal assistants because that is all they know.

“We are going to show them that there is more to life than being a personal assistant. We are going to show them how to be properly empowered so that our region can start booming like all the other regions.

“I have seen the men that I have been nominated along with. We have been in contact with each other. We are going to work as a team because I am a team player.”

Not quite impressed by her submissions, Senator Seriake Dickson fired the first salvo. He said, “ I would like to know your Local Government in Delta State and your community and whether to the best of your knowledge the community you come from is an oil producing community or it has oil facilities located therein.”

The acting Chairman of the panel however shielded Onochie from answering the question publicly. He said the Senators would meet with Onochie behind closed doors.

His words, “Mrs nominee you have heard the question put to you. Just take your time. I am ready and we are all ready to discuss this during our executive session so I want to plead with all our Senators here to allow her for now. We will talk during the Executive session.”

Another member from the oil producing area of Delta State, Senator James Manager, said the matter would be tackled at the executive Session.

He said, “I want the public to know that this one is an isolated case, in an executive session we will discuss it. We will look at the petitions.”

The Senator representing Anambra North Senatorial District, Stella Oduah, however introduced gender bias to the debate.

She said, “Nigeria women are particularly happy that the president did what he did by appointing a female, very capable woman to help this wonderful and relevant agency of Niger Delta.

“Whether we like it or not, where a woman comes in, her innate skills, her multitasking ability. I believe that for the first time Niger Delta will have the required development that they so much are in need of. I thank Mr President for this nomination.”

Similarly, a Principal Officer of the red chamber, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, reminded his colleagues that Onochie was not the first person from a non-oil producing area that would be appointed as NDDC Chairman.

According to him: “We need to be more guided. We have appointed a Chairman from our state that is not from the local government where they produce oil, he is Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, and nobody can tell us to reject this one.”

Addressing the panel, the Managing Director- nominee, Mr. Samuel Ogbokwu, from Bayelsa State, affirmed his competency to hold the office.

He said, “I believe I’m the square peg in the square hole to man the position of the MD because I understand the problems of our people.

“I have been part of the Niger Delta struggle, I’m presently working as special assistant to the deputy senate president.

“I will bridge the gap between the youth and the elderly, in my experience in activism and administration I believe I’m going to bring a positive change in the Niger Delta.

“We are thankful to the president for completing the forensic audit of the NDDC, I believe we are going to use that as a guide to usher in a new dawn in NDDC.”

Dickson told newsmen after the screening exercise that his colleagues would insist on the need to respect the Act that established the NDDC.

He said, “What I did during the screening session was to emphasise the sanctity of the law, that is the NDDC Act and to underscore the fact that the agency was created to address the challenges of development of oil producing areas, communities and the people.

“The law was carved that way for a reason.

The NDDC isn’t just any other Federal or National Agency where you just make appointments or nominations from anywhere based on competence or people you may know.

“The NDDC Act recognises that development concerns and issues of inclusion by the oil producing communities which has been a causative factor of the unrest in that area.

“That is why the law was crafted that way, and it is important that the president or those advising him who are in charge of the nomination must comply with the NDDC Act with respect to the involvement of the people from the oil-producing areas.

“In fact what the Act stated is indigenes of oil producing areas or communities.

So, it’s not enough that a nominee from an oil-producing state, you have to go further to ensure that the person is from an oil-producing Local Government Area or community.

“This is to make sure that the person will have an affinity with the concerns and challenges for which the NDDC board was established by law.

“That applies to the concerns I raised and the one raised by other lawmakers, it is not personal and it’s not limited to one nominee, it’s across board.

Let’s see what happens when the committee meets in executive session.”

The NDDC board membership issue took another dimension last Friday as a Federal high court sitting in Abuja granted an order stopping the National Assembly from screening and confirming Onochie and Ogbuku as the Chairman and Managing Director of the NDDC respectively.

The Presiding Judge, Justice J. K. Omotosho, directed that all actions on the matter be suspended pending the determination of the suit.

Among other things, the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2294/2022 is seeking a restraining order on the National Assembly from screening and confirming the duo.

The plaintiffs, Edward Ekpokpo Esq., and Victor Wood, who are both representing the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought and Edward Omagbemi who is representing Omadino Unity Forum, all on behalf of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality, are challenging the nomination on the grounds that it is the turn of the Itsekiri to occupy the positions.

The first to sixth defendants in the suit are President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Senate President, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; Mrs Lauretta Onochie and Chief Samuel Ogbuku.

The suit filed by Ama Etuwewe, & Co., demands that the provisions of the NDDC Act be followed in the nomination process. It maintained that it is the turn of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality to produce the NDDC Board Chairman and MD as the highest oil-producing community in Delta State.

The latest legal twist to the matter and the serious concerns raised by some Senators, are no doubt, a great threat to an early inauguration of the NDDC board because the Senate may likely put their confirmation on hold.

(THISDAY)

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