Reject Buhari’s NDDC Nominee – Lawmaker To Senate

The senator for the Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency, Kolade Akinjo, has urged the Senate to oppose the nomination of Charles Ogunmola to the position of Executive Director (Projects) on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission by President Muhammadu Buhari (NDDC).

Mr. Ogunmola’s nomination, according to Mr. Akinjo, is in violation of the law that created the commission.

The names of 15 candidates for the positions of chairperson, executive directors, and other board positions at the commission were forwarded by President Buhari to the Senate on Wednesday.

Lauretta Onochie, who will serve as chairwoman, Gbenga Edema, who will represent Ondo State, Charles Ogunmola (ED, Project), Pius Odubu, who will represent Edo State, and Charles Airhiavbere (ED, Finance), among others, are among the individuals he nominated.

The lawmaker, while rejecting the nomination, said it is against “the letters of Section 12(1) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) (Establishment etc) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as NDDC Act) which provides that:

“There shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director, and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in the order of production.”

The lawmaker argued that Mr Ogunmola, who is from Owo Local Government Area, is not from any of the oil-producing communities in Ondo South, especially in Ilaje and Ese-Odo local council areas.

The lawmaker said while he acknowledged the power of the President to nominate for an appointment on the Board of NDDC, he said such nomination must be in tandem with relevant provisions of the Act establishing the Commission.

Mr Akinjo reminded the Senate that it rejected a nominee, Adetokunbo Ajasin, in 2016, when his nomination was deemed to have been against the Act establishing the commission.

The current nominee, Mr Ogunmola, whose nomination is generating controversy, according to the lawmaker, is from the same Owo LGA as the one rejected by the Senate in 2016 for the same reasons.

Mr Akinjo called on the President to nominate an indigene of Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency to fill the position of Executive Director (Projects) in accordance with the provisions of the NDDC Act.