From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Centre for Responsive Leadership and Transparency, a leading Niger Delta group, has called out six South-South state governors over their recent call on President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commision (NDDC).
The six People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governors had during the week urged the President to inaugurate the Board when they met in Port Hacourt, the Rivers State capital.
The group’s Executive Director, Preye Dressmann, said that the call by the governors was suspicious, considering that a forensic audit of the NDDC is yet to be completed.
‘We congratulate the Minister of Niger Delta for the completion of the NDDC headquarters in Port Harcourt. This is a feat that has been lingering for the past 20 years. This is a confirmation of the transformational disposition of Senator Godswill Akpabio,’ Dressmann stated.
‘On the composition of the Board by the Ggvernors of the South-South, we see their position as suspicious, knowing that the NDDC headquarters under the PDP government could not [be] deliver[ed] and [that they] are envious of the development stride of Godswill Akpabio under President Buhari and wish to see the minister fail; hence [they] want him to inaugurate the Board without a forensic audit of the decay experienced under the PDP government.
‘We are calling on Mr President not to hurriedly act on the threat from the governors of the South-South, but to rather wait for a thorough forensic audit before the inauguration of the NDDC Board. The new Board needs to come up with a road map that will be determined by the report of the forensic report.
‘The pressure from the governors is political amd against the good intentions of Mr President for good governance for the good people of the zone,’ he said.