An Akwa Ibom group, Network Advancement Programme for Poverty and Disaster Risks Reduction, has appealed to the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) to support the new leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
This, according to the Network will help them deliver on its mandate and supervise to completion the ongoing forensic audit ordered by the Federal Government.
The group stated this in response to threats by RNDA, over the appointment of an Akwa Ibom man as the Sole Administrator of NDDC.
The group in a statement signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Al Mustapha Emem Edoho and Mr. Aniekan Willie Akpan respectively, said the group should note that no part of the Niger Delta region should attempt to claim absolute power over who should become what and take what in the region.
While acknowledging the sacrifices of key actors across all the ethnic groups and peoples in the region towards the cause of Resource Control and Fiscal Federalism which culminated in the 13 Percent Derivation, the Network said that it would not allow those bent on destroying the economic lifeline of the nation to succeed.
The Network recalled that as the Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei-led Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was sacked on Saturday, a coalition of militant groups under the auspices of the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers (RNDA) had sent a letter to the Presidency protesting an alleged plan to appoint an Akwa Ibom man as the Sole Administrator of the Commission.
“From the statement signed by its alleged Coordinator, “General” Johnmark Ezonebi, the RNDA has no problem with the decision to change the leadership of the Commission neither does it contest the power of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, to supervise the Commission. Their anger is that the Minister appointed his brother.
“What is troubling for the group was the move by the Minister to get the Commission’s Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Effiong Akwa, to be appointed a Sole Administrator.
“The group said the appointment of Mr. Akwa would be provocative and could trigger a new round of violence in the creeks of the region.
“It, therefore, advised “multinational oil companies operating in the creeks of the region to evacuate its workers on rigs, platforms and manifolds,” and vowed to close down all the oil wells and flow stations in the creeks and cut down the ESCRAVOS-Warri-Kaduna gas pipeline that transmits gas to Abuja.”
The Network stated that, ordinarily, they would not want to join issues with the RNDA and their supporters but are compelled to draw their attention and that of every well-meaning citizen of the Niger Delta region, Nigeria and the world to some basic truths which are self-evident and undeniable.
The Network further recalled that
“On December 21, 2015, President Buhari, who was barely six months in office, had sacked the Dan Abia-led management of the NDDC, an indigene of Akwa Ibom, and immediately replaced him with Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, an Ijaw woman and former aide to the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
“The appointment of Mrs. Semenitari as the Sole Administrator of the commission not only robbed Akwa Ibom, a key component of the Niger Delta region of its legitimate turn to occupy the office of MD but also breached Sections 3 & 12 of the NDDC Act 2000 and the Federal Character Commission Act, 1996.
“Before that intervention, the tenure of board members and the executive management of the NDDC were not contingent on individuals but on the states of the Niger Delta region.
“Again, we want to point out that before the appointment of Mrs. Semenitari as Sole Administrator, an action that was not challenged by RNDA and its allies, no one was ever appointed from outside or among the political class to hold the highest management position in the Commission because of the political, financial and administrative implications of such appointment.
“Acting managing directors who held forte until substantive appointments were made were usually drawn from the core senior directors in the system. But when Mrs. Semenitari, who has Ijaw ties was appointed to join two sitting executive directors of Rivers origin, the RNDA and its supporters kept mute.
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“Militant groups and Ijaw-based rights organisations did not find anything wrong when Akwa Ibom, which at the time was and is still the largest producer of oil in the country, was denied its legitimate right to occupy the position of MD of the NDDC.
“The RNDA and its allies, however, rose from their selective hibernation just as Nsima Ekere, another Akwa Ibom man was appointed MD of the Commission and started issuing threats as if Akwa Ibom is not a part of the Niger Delta region.
“We want to inform the RNDA and its supporters that the Niger Delta is not an Ijaw colony and no ethnic group or people in the region was conquered and or brought under the control of Ijaws.
“At the height of the disruptions in oil production and needless brigandage by armed groups which were earlier recruited, armed and used by known political elites in some parts of the region, Akwa Ibom youths and its elite were constructively engaging with both the Federal Government and multinational oil companies and would not attack people or oil facilities to drive home their displeasure over the injustice done to the region.
“The fact that the majority of us did not resort to needless violence against our people or cause wanton destruction of oil assets with attendant large-scale pollution of the region’s delicate environment, does not mean we are cowards.
“It showed we were strategic and very deliberate in the character and nature of our agitation even as some of our boys joined the groups in the creeks with many paying the supreme price against the claim that the Niger Delta agitation was solely an Ijaw affair.
Speaking further, the Network said, “In sacking the Pondei team, the Presidency had clearly stated that it took the decision because of the “plethora of litigation and a restraining order issued recently against the Interim Management Committee of the NDDC by a Federal High Court in Abuja,” and to avoid a vacuum while reconstituting the board.
“The implication is that the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio had no hand in the decision to sack the IMC or in the appointment of Mr. Effiong Akwa as the Sole Administrator of the Commission.
“However, whoever gets appointed to a position will always be someone’s brother or sister. The objection raised by the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives has not introduced any fundamental or new issue that should stop the appointment of a Sole Administrator of the Commission for now.
“The Minority Caucus is advised to pursue the payment of the trillion Naira arrears outstanding to the Commission to enable it fulfil its obligation to the Niger Delta region.
They therefore, called on RNDA and the entire people of the region to support the new leadership of the Commission to deliver on its mandate just as they appealed to the Sole Administrator to apply global best practices in corporate governance, accountability and transparency in the day-to-day operations of the Commission.
