In spite of the repeated denial by the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to lobby the Nigerian Senate to delay the screening and confirmation of the new Board for the Commission as directed by President Mohammadu Buhari, fresh facts have emerged that the plot is still very much on course.
It will be recalled that a Port Harcourt based socio-cultural group, Niger Delta Alliance for Economic Survival, NDAES, had raised the alarm over alleged plot to frustrate the inauguration of the Board.
The leader of the group Mr. Tubonemi Chibisi, had in a statement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said the selfish plot was targeted at feasting on the expected release of fund running into hundreds of Billions of Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to the Commission.
He said the plan was to continue to tactically delay the inauguration of the board so the money will be released to the present leadership of the Commission as it will be easier to manipulate the Acting Managing Directorthan the Board.
According to Mr Chibisi, the recent announcement of the list of the Board nominees on the floor of the Senate was a decoy to pepertrate the act as the Senate has refused to confirm the nominees for the reconstitution of the Board.
The group has issued another statement on Tuesday in which it claimed that it had facts to prove that the management of the NDDC had continued its plans to frustrate the inauguration of the Board.
The statement reads in part, “A very prominent Director in the Commission who is said to be from the Northern Region has penetrated some members of the Senate Committee on NDDC to perfect the plot.
“In spite of the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the money being expected to be released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, should be spent on specific project, the current mangement of the Commision, are bent on appropriating the fund by awarding frivolous contracts without compliance to the procurement Act and due process.
“The Acting MD, who is still a civil servant and a staff of the NDDC, has assumed the full function of a board as this does not serve the the interest and composition of the Niger Delta people.
“The intrigues playing out against the composition of the Board is against the good intention of President Buhari to actualise his plans for the Niger Delta people”.
The group has restated its call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and other security Agencies to investigate the allegation .
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