Ijaw group rejects NDDC appointments, urges Buhari to review

The Western Ijaw Consultative Assembly have kicked against the recent appointment of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The group made its stance known after its monthly meting held recently in Delta state.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari recently reconstituted the board of the NDDC. The office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Tuesday, August 27, released the names of the new NDDC members.

The group described the action of the government as an act of “injustice, marginalization and oppression.” They further lamented that the action is “the deliberate exclusion of Ijaws from appointments and opportunities due us.”

“Time and principle enshrined in the NDDC Establishment Act has offered the good people of Delta state the opportunity to produce at least another Managing Director. “This rare opportunity offers any good leader with a sense of history to correct the ethnic bias inherent in the previous board appointments.

“However, the very unique opportunity has been snatched by people parading themselves as close allies to of the federal powers, to further their ungodly anti-Ijaw, anti-progress ploy for the sake of satisfying narrow, parochial ethnic agenda by the nomination of another Urhobo national for the third time to occupy the position of the Managing Director of the NDDC.

“This is not fair to the Ijaws that produce the bulk of the oil and gas in Delta state; neither does it engender inter-ethnic peace and harmony,” the group stated. The group alleged that some over-zealous politicians are working assiduously to maliciously push the Ijaws out of the political power play in Nigeria.

According to them, “politicians like Ovie Omo-Agege and his cohorts have taken liberty of their position in the federal government to oppress us. He has shown that he is anti-Ijaw and does not want our development and progress.

“This is a man clamoring to be the next governor of Delta state. If he can treat us this badly as a Deputy Senate President, imagine what will become of him if elected as governor.” The group called on President Buhari to “correct this injustice as a matter of urgency.”

Similarly, a group, Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG), has called for an urgent investigation into the announcement of new board members of the NDDC by President Buhari.

The group in a statement sent to journalists on Wednesday, August 28, and signed by its president, Comrade Dominic Ogakwu, stated that the procedure employed for the purported dissolution of the acting management of the NDDC and appointment of a new board for the commission, “lies in bad taste and it is worrisome.”