Claims that some interests with the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are working to reverse the appointment of the yet to be inaugurated board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been discarded as irrelevant.
An Ijaw interest group; Izon Democratic Rights Association (IDRA), which asked the people of the region to disregard the claim in a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja on Wednesday, also lamented the absence of any Delta State Ijaw in the list of the members of the newly nominated board, describing the composition of the board as “a gross breach of the act that established the Commission”.
The group, in the statement signed by its President, Ekenwan Akwagbe, and Secretary, Austin Ozobo, argued that the claim that the PDP had a plot to change the nominations was untenable as the party is not close to any position that will afford it such privilege, alleging further that the group that raised the alarm was being sponsored by certain interested parties within the Nigerian Senate and the Presidency.
It, however called on President Muhammadu Buhari to do the right thing by rejecting the list of the nominees, which it claimed had been assembled by the president’s detractors, adding that this is the only way to avoid the escalation of crisis in the oil-rich region.
“Is PDP in position to make and unmake appointments into any federal board such as NDDC today? Who is the PDP chieftain that Gary and his group suspect that will benefit if changes are made in that list concocted by some elements in the Senate and some members of the cabal in Aso Rock.
“Is Mr. Gary happy that in that list, which was published in the absence of the President, there is no Ijaw name from Delta State? After Professor Victor Peretomode, we have had no Ijaw representative at the board of the NDDC. Further, has Gary and his group have knowledge of the fact that the list they are supporting is a gross breach of the act that established the Commission in 2001?
“Contrary to Mr. Gary’s submission in his publication, it is the confirmation of that board by Mr. President and the National Assembly that will spark crisis across the length and breadth of the Niger Delta. This is because we can recollect how the nine Niger Delta governors held an emergency meeting at the Bayelsa House in Abuja 48 hours after the release of that ill-fated list.
“At this juncture, if President Muhammadu Buhari reverses the injustice created by that list, which was made by his detractors in the Senate and Presidency, he would have succeeded in magnifying the existing peace in the Niger Delta.
“Finally, we will want Mr. President to identify those who drew up that controversial list to spite him and his exalted office and punish them appropriately while I appeal to Mr. Stanley and his gr