NDDC: Senate, executive head for showdown

Fred Itua, Abuja and Lukman Olabiyi

The Senate and the Executive may be heading for a showdown over the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The borne of contention is the interim management committee constituted by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.
At its plenary, yesterday, the upper legislative chamber unanimously confirmed 15 out of the 16 nominees nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari for the NDDC board.
In addition to the NDDC board, the Senate also confirmed the appointment of Justice John Tsoho as the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.
The confirmation followed a report submitted by Sen. Michael Bamidele, Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters which recommended the confirmation of Tsoho’s appointment.
The Senate at Plenary on October 29 deliberated on President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for the confirmation of the nomination of Tsoho for appointment as Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

IMC: Lawan faults Akpabio
President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan after the inauguration, faulted the inauguration of an interim committee dismissing it as alien to the laws establishing the NDDC.
Lawan said with the confirmation of the board, the interim committee ceased to exist and warned that those saddled with the responsibility of protecting the sanctity of the law should not flout them.
On the interim committee to oversee the NDDC, Lawan said: “I think there’s no ambiguity in this matter. Mr. President sent to the Senate his request for us to confirm his nominees. As soon as they (nominees) are confirmed, I’m sure any other structure that exists now is vitiated.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about, because this is something that is clearly established by the law.”
Lawan tasked the Senate Committee on NDDC on the need to properly oversight the commission as soon as the new board takes over the management of the agency.
“The NDDC is a special case. We recall that the President had cause to ask for a total probe of what happened with the finances of the NDDC.
“We are supposed to continually oversight wherever public funds are put out for the development of the country,” Lawan said.
The announcement of an interim management team had sparked outrage as it was viewed as a way of scuttling the projects and cover up alleged fraud in the Commission.
Akpabio, while inaugurating the interim committee, had said the board could only commence work after the conclusion of a forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Akpabio also claimed he had the backing of the president. But there were fears that the inauguration of the board against the wish of Akpabio could spark off crisis in the management of the NDDC.
The nominees confirmed were Pius Odubu, Edo as Chairman; Bernard Okumagba (Delta) as Managing Director; Otobong Ndem (Akwa-Ibom), Executive Director, Projects; Maxwell Oko (Bayelsa), Executive Director, Finance and Admininistration; Jones Erue (Delta) and Victor Ekhator (Edo).
Others were Nwogu N. Nwogu (Abia), Theordore Allison (Bayelsa), Victor Antai (Akwa-Ibom), Maurice Effiwatt (Cross River), Olugbenga Edema (Ondo), Uchegbu Chidiebere Kyrian (Imo), Aisha Murtala Muhammed (Kano), Shuaibu Ardo Zubairu (Adamawa), and Ambassador Abdullahi Bage (Nasarawa).
The upper chamber, however, rejected the nomination of Dr. Joy Yimebe Nunieh representing Rivers State.
Nunieh is acting Managing Director of the interim committee. The committee has Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as acting Executive Director, Projects and Ibanga Bassey Etang as the Acting Executive Director, Finance and Administration.
Meanwhile, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) has dragged the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs before Federal High Court, Abuja, to challenge his power to constitute an interim management committee for the NDDC.
Other plaintiffs in the suit are indigenes of the Niger Delta area, including Iruo Onoruvwe, Anatole Osuji, and Walter Abere. Respondents apart from Akpabio are Dr. Gbene Joi Nunieh, Dr. Ojougboh, and Ibanga Basset Etang.
In the suit, filed by the Executive Director of LEDAP, Chino Obiagwu, the plaintiffs are seeking the following reliefs:
“A declaration that the purported appointment by the first defendant of three-man interim management for the second defendant is contrary to sections 2, 10, and 12 of the NDDC Act 6 2000(as amended).
No date has been fixed for hearing.