The Niger Delta Coalition for Unity and Progress, NDCUP, has cautioned Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State not to drag the composition of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC into his battle with the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Adams Oshiomhole.
The group while reacting to claims by Governor Obaseki that the composition of the board is made up of cronies of the APC chairman, also clarified that contrary to claims in some quarters that the board was sacked, “President Muhammadu Buhari only stated that the board will be ‘recomposed and inaugurated’ after the forensic audit is completed.”
Governor Obaseki had in a statement by his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, claimed that while President Buhari was away, “Comrade Oshiomhole got top officials at the presidency to approve the composition of the board of the NDDC, made up of his cronies apparently in violation of the existing rules.”
Describing the claims by the governor as absolutely untrue, NDCUP national coordinator, Brakemi Akokari in a statement yesterday, explained that the composition of the board was the product of broad consensus adding that the facts of the matter are very clear in the public domain.
He said: “While we appreciate the problems Governor Obaseki has with Oshiomhole, who was his predecessor, we believe that the governor will be taking this too far by giving the impression that all the members of the board, which President Buhari has kept on hold to be recomposed and inaugurated in due course, have been injudiciously selected with an agenda to loot the NDDC for Oshiomhole’s personal benefit.
“We are bothered at the politicization of the appointment of board nominees into the NDDC and how it is been turned into a proxy war of Edo State politics against the very fact of the process that produced that board.”
On the composition of the board, the group noted that it has a broad representation and was the product of consensus, stating that “no one person, certainly not Oshiomhole, could have selected the members without the knowledge of the President and for a purpose as nefarious as being painted.”
“Let it be known to Obaseki that he has embarked on a mission that bodes no good for the peaceful coexistence of our peoples in the Niger Delta. We want to advise Governor Obaseki and indeed all those who have issues to grind in Edo State and elsewhere in the region to stick to their local politics and stop spinning convenient tales on the back of the leadership issues in the NDDC,” the group added.