A group, Edo Restoration movement (ERM), has issued a seven-day ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Niger Delta affairs, Godswill Akpabio, to reconstitute the NDDC board or face a major breakdown of law and order in the Niger Delta.
ERM said Senator Akpabio’s temporary reprieve from the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and the ishekiri protest in the last few days ago is a child’s play when compared to what is to come in few days.
“He is about to be awakened to the rage of the Niger Delta region,” ERM said in a statement signed by the spokesperson of the group, Engr. Ehis Osagie.
The movement urged Buhari, members of the National Assembly and security agencies to work towards the constitution of the substantive board of the NDDC within a few days to avert a total breakdown of law and order that will equally affect crude oil exploration and exploitation activities in the region.
On this note we hereby proclaim a seven days ultimatum starting the date of this publication to inaugurate the substantive board of the the NDDC
“The continuous running of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by a sole administrator at the instance of the minister of Niger Delta Affairs Senator Akpabio, is undemocratic and anti-development, hence unacceptable to the people of the region. The people of the region are averse to a one-man show in a commission that is supposed to attend to the developmental needs of nine states, namely, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers. It will likely set the region on fire, sooner than later.
“There is no provision for either interim management committee or sole administration in the act that establishes the NDDC. Common sense will tell you that the so called forensic audit that has been used by Senator Akpabio to strangle the commission could be best conducted with a substantive board that brings all representatives from the nine states and other parts of the country. As one from the region, Senator Akpabio’s initial mission to audit past activities of the commission was seen as welcome development, but later the people realised that it was a personal mission to feather the next of his 2023 political ambition.”
ERM warned that the continuous undermining of the provisions in the establishing act of the NDDC under the guise of an endless forensic audit is evil, and should be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians.
ERM said let it be on record that Oziegbe, Oredo, Oben and so many others flow station’s will be closed down if after the seven days ultimatum is not complied with
It is time to end this barbaric act as it will be concertedly resisted in the days ahead”
