Ijaw youths kick over alleged move to extend tenure of NDDC chiefs

Ex-militants write Osinbajo, N’Assembly over pay, others

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has protested against an alleged move by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to extend the tenure of the chairman and managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Victor Ndoma-Egba and Nsima Ekere.

During a rally yesterday at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat in Warri, the youths, led by the body’s president, Eric Omare, said they stormed over a leaked memo allegedly authorising the extension of tenure in office of the two officials by another four years.

According to Omare, the staying beyond November 30,2017 when their tenures expire would rob Delta and Bayelsa states, which he maintained were the next rightful occupants.

He argued that the action was not only alien to the NDDC Act, but also a dangerous move capable of throwing the interventionist agency into chaos.

His words: “Let me emphasise the point that by the provisions of the NDDC Act, especially Sections 3,4 and 12, its chairman and the managing director cannot spend more than a term. Malami has not done this out of mistake, it is a product of corruption.

“Malami has now become Buhari’s (Michael) Aondoakaa. This unconstitutional move is condemnable and the memo approving the extension is not only illegal but also satanic. It is only the devil that can do such a thing because the NDDC is guided by history.

“When it was established in 2000, the first managing director was Godwin Omene from Delta State. Along the way, he had issues and Emmanuel Aguariavwodo was appointed to complete the term.”

He continued: Aguariavwodo didn’t start a new term.”

Omare noted that they do not have any issue against the chairman and managing director who are from Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, but insisted that the right thing must be done.

He reiterated that it was the turn of Delta and Bayelsa to occupy the two topmost positions in the commission from this month end, adding that anything contrary would be tantamount to inviting crisis.

However, efforts to reach the minister for comments proved abortive. But his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Salihu Othman Isah, said he was not aware of such development.

He promised to reach out to his boss to ascertain the true position of things.

Meanwhile, some 300 ex-militants have written Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the National Assembly over what they claimed as their two-year allowances and demobilisation from Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

Their spokesperson, Ikenimi Markson, in the letter made available to The Guardian in Port Harcourt yesterday, the former militants said they, the first batch of the programme in 2009, allegedly got their last stipends in October 2015.