The Forum of Niger Delta Activists and Leaders has called on President Buhari to inaugurate the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) without delay and direct the anti-corruption agencies such as the EFCC to supervise the probe of the agency, among other demands.
In an open letter to the president, signed by Dr Sam T Oprite and Mr Arnold Bassey, the Conveners of the Forum, the group asked the president to dissolve the illegal interim management committee and sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio for attempting to hijack the probe to hide his complicity in the commission’s rot.
Urging the President to inaugurate the new board without delay, the Niger Delta activists and leaders stated that “the law is clear on how the NDDC should function. The interest of Senator Godswill Akpabio and his illegal Interim Management Committee cannot supersede the laws of our land and suppress the wellbeing of the Niger Delta people and region.”
In the message to the President, the Forum said that while it supports the President’s decision to probe the NDDC, Akpabio could not be trusted to supervise the assignment, given that he was part of the rot in the NDDC. In its words, “every oppressed, downtrodden and justice-seeking Niger Deltan applauds His Excellency, President Buhari for ordering a forensic audit of the NDDC, but what we will not accept is for the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs who is involved in a corruption imbroglio with the EFCC to nominate the forensic auditors or allow his illegal Interim Management Committee oversee the auditing process. The cynicism we as a people have developed on Senator Godswill Akpabio is not personal but based on issues associated with his moral scruples.”
Contrary to what it termed as the minister’s propaganda, it said the people of the region support the audit but want the president to be wary of those around him who have skeletons to hide and are only using the President’s name to justify their selfish aganda.
