…Moves to stick with Ibim Seminatari of Rivers State as Managing Director
Hopes that an Akwa Ibom person will soon regain the office of NDDC Managing Director in the nearest future are fading away by the day.
Last December, President Muhammadu Buhari had sacked the Managing Director of the Commission, Mr. Dan Abia of Akwa Ibom, replacing him with Mrs. Ibim Semenitari,a Rivers State indigene who is a former information Commissioner to the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
However, according to the power rotation system adopted in the NDDC since inception which is based on the Act establishing the Commission, the position of Managing director has to rotate around the states making the Niger Delta Region, based on this, Mr. Dan Abia was appointed into the position by the immediate past administration.
According to impeccable Presidency sources, the President and Commander in chief of the Armed Forces is not inclined to replacing the Rivers State born Semenitari soon.
Although no official reasons have been given for the snub on Umana Umana and Nsima Ekere, the two frontline politicians from Akwa Ibom angling for the role, the Presidential source said the President is not convinced on the credentials of both men, hence the snub. This comes after the duo had been widely reported in the media that as clear favorites to land the influential NDDC job. Also, President Buhari’s ministers led by Transport Ministry Boss, Rotimi Amaechi during the South-South Town Hall Meeting held in Uyo , promised Akwa Ibom people that somebody would be appointed to complete the slot of the state.
NEWS LINK can report that the retention of Semenitari, against the NDDC act has unruffled some nerves in Akwa Ibom. Recently, Umana’s campaign manager Chief Sunny Udom went on the media to call for an immediate appointment of their members into the NDDC board and other juicy boards in the country.
“we don’t want to be overlooked when it comes to juicy boards, only to be remembered for boards like National Copyright Commission or National Lottery Commission, what are we copyrighting?”, Chief Udom had grumbled.
Even with the demand for the positionfrom Akwa Ibomites, there appears to be no hope in sight for the NDDC Managing Director/Chief Executive position to come to either Umana or Ekere as the current acting MD has commenced an intense lobby to keep her portfolio.
The Akwa Ibom APC chieftains are in a very frustrated mood, after it was gathered that the current occupier of the office who was earlier projected for a short term on office, now wants more time.
This indication emerged following a re-launch of several suspected sponsored media advocacy messages targeted at appealing for her to be allowed to remain in office much longer.
According to one of the allegedly sponsored stories, President Muhammadu Buhari was being urged to give more time to the acting Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mrs Ibim Semenitari, to reposition the commission for optimal performances.
The plea was made by the founder of Nigerian Young Professionals Forum (NYPF) and former Bayelsa state governorship candidate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Moses Siloko Siasia.
Observing that some politicians from Akwa Ibom are already jostling for the post, Siasia urged President Buhari to be mindful of them, stressing that history has shown that the best days of the commission are when technocrats and not career politicians head its affair.
“Records are there to show that the commission performs well when professionals are engaged to head it, rather than the career politicians. I am sure if the president gives her more time, she will turn the place around and whenever, the president deems it fit to appoint someone from Akwa Ibom, he can look within the commission rather than these career politicians lobbying for the post,” he submitted.
According to Siasia, Mrs. Semenitari is championing the restructuring of the commission to meet the yearning of Niger Delta in line with the agenda of the President Buhari-led administration.
“I will appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to give Mrs. Semenitari more time to complete the restructuring of the commission so that it can contribute meaningfully to the development of the Niger Delta. She is dogged and committed, unbiased and incorruptible in the discharge of her responsibilities,” he said.
However, youths in Akwa Ibom state have threatened to stop at nothing until the alleged injustice against their state is addressed. Before the paper went to press, Federated Akwa Ibom Youths Association [FAYA] and Coalition of Akwa Ibom Oil Producing Communities Network (CAOPCYN) issued out statements concerning the snub on Akwa Ibom.
The Federated Akwa Ibom Youths Association [FAYA]in its terse press statement monitored by our news desk said it is the height of greed, betrayal and covetousness for anybody or group of persons in a sister Niger Delta state to attempt to usurp the position of the Akwa Ibom state, even when it is legally clear to the whole world that it is the turn of the state to produce the next NDDC managing director.
“Those calling on President Buhari to jettison the rotation policy in the leadership of NDDC within the period the state are yet to complete its tenure amounts to affront and the provocation of the peace loving people of Akwa Ibom state, such groups of persons or individuals are ignorant of the zoning formula of the commission”, part of the statement read.
For the Coalition of Akwa Ibom Oil Producing Communities Network (CAOPCYN), the demand for the NDDC slot goes beyond an Akwa Ibom issue. According to the group, President Muhammadu Buhari should immediately appoint an indigene from the core oil producing communities in Akwa Ibom as the next Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to complete the tenure of the sacked Barr. Bassey Dan Abia who was ejected seven months ago.
The group in a communique available to our newsdesk stated that Akwa Ibom state being the highest oil producing state in the Niger Delta region which has not been affected by renewed militancy deserves a better treatment from the President Buhari administration.
The group also described as unacceptable, those touted by miscreants as possible contenders for the board of the NDDC by the President, like the former governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state; Umana Okon Umana and other political gladiators who are not from the oil producing areas and as such should not be mentioned.
They averred that apart from lacking the credibility and capacity to deliver the much needed change to the region’s fortune and infrastructure the politicians represent injustice to the “goose that lays the golden eggs,” and demanded that only citizens from the core oil producing communities in the state with the character, competence and charisma to deliver on the mandate of the NDDC should be appointed by the President.
According to the youths, the appointment to the NDDC board should not be a reward for failed politicians in the state under the APC umbrella, but should be made based on the capacity of the appointee to elevate the welfare of the people in the region through transparent and visionary projects and programmes.
They also stated that failure to meet the demands by the group might lead to another wave of hostilities from the region especially from oil producing communities in Akwa Ibom state who feel marginalized by the government in allocation of resources already.
Source: Newslink Newspapers
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