Lori-Ogbebor opposes reappointment of NDDC ex-board members

•Insists Delta should produce the next chief executives

Rights activist, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, has cautioned against re-appointment of members of the dissolved substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), saying doing so would amount to a violation of the Act establishing the interventionist agency.

She insisted that the communities with the highest oil production quantum in Delta State should produce the leadership of the commission. 

In a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari through her counsel, B.J. Akomolafe, she urged him to be guided by the law in deciding on the NDDC to avoid litigations and other consequences. 

Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and Chairman, Senate on NDDC, Senator Peter Nwoboshi, were also copied. 

The correspondence read: “We humbly write to inform your Excellency on the instructions of Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, representing the Ugbodede community, Rev. (Dr.) Jackson Omasanjuwa, representing Bateren community and Edward Milverton Omagbemi, representing Omadino community of Warri South Council of Delta State. We shall hereafter, refer to them as our clients.  

“It is imperative to state that Ugbodede, Bateren and Omadino communities in Warri South are the communities with the highest production quantum of oil in Delta State.”

Furthermore, it is also an incontrovertible fact that in line with the provisions of 2, 4 & 12 of the NDDC Establishment Act, Cap N85, Laws of Nigeria, 2000, it is the turn of Delta State to produce the Chairman and Managing Director of commission after Cross River State that just finished its tenure,” she said. 

Speaking further, she said: “Following to the above, it is our wish and intention that your Excellency is properly guided in the appointment of the membership the board of NDDC. This will avert a repeat of the floodgate of litigations that characterised the appointment of the immediate past substantive chairman and managing director of the commission in violation of the enabling Act.

“The consequence cumulated in the instant dissolution of the membership of the board by your Excellency before even settling down for any serious business.

“Our clients hereby seize this opportunity to appreciate the president on the auditing of the last activities of NDDC. It is hoped that peace and development would be the result.”