Niger/Delta Development Front (NDDF), a group of over 400 ex-Niger/Delta Agitators from Delta, Bayelsa, Ondo, Rivers, Edo, Abia and Imo States respectively, has  reacted to the ill-advised rejection of Mr Charles Ogunmola, President Muhammadu Buhari’s nominee for the position of Executive Director (Projects) on the board of NDDC by three senators from Ondo State and threat by some politicians masquerading as ex-militants to disrupt the peace in the state should the senate confirm him.

In a press release signed by Comrade Ovie Bobarakuie National Co-ordinator, Chief Kingsley Ebiowou National Secretary and Dr. Solomon Orighomisan, National Publicity Secretary they said It’s pertinent to state that while we understand that the two PDP senators from Ondo Central and South merely played destructive oppositional politics by rejecting the nominee. The only APC senator, Ajayi Boroffice, did so out of envy.

They asked why would he have rejected him if Ogunmola had been from any of the communities in Akoko Land where he is their Asiwaju? Did Senator Borofice kick when Bunmi Tunji Ojo from Akoko was made the -Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on NDDC? Of-course, the answer is no.

” It is also worth mentioning that the two PDP Senators – Akinyelure (Ondo Central) and Tofowomo (Ondo South) lost their party re-election tickets because of abysmal performance in office and are now looking for anything to hang on just to be seen to be on the side of the people.

While one may sympathise with the senators because their rejection is an exercise in futility as the Senate in its wisdom will neither disgrace the President who legitimately exercised the rights conferred on him by the NDDC Act to nominate Ogunmola nor piss on its own precedent which will be outlined later in the course of this public intervention, the threat to disrupt the relative peace in the region is non-existent as it is the handiwork of some faceless politicians hiding under the guise of ex-militants to further their own agenda which has deprived the region of the needed development and growth over the years.

The statement reads ” We condemn without equivocation the statement credited to Senator Tofowomo that Ilaje and Ese Odo youths will resort to violence and militancy should the Senate confirm the nomination of Mr Ogunmola. We hereby put all security agencies in the state on alert in case of any eventuality in the aftermath that Ogunmola will be confirmed to please hold Tofowomo responsible for any breakdown of law and order in Ese-Odo and Ilaje LGAs of the state. Tofowomo is from Ile-Oluji, far from Ilaje and Ese-Odo.

” What developmental programmes and projects has Senator Tofowomo attracted to Ese-Odo and Ilaje LGAs since his election into the senate in 2019 that he is now crying more than the bereaved? Was he not rejected by his own party members when he sought for a return tucket? We at NDDF are only after the development of Ilaje, and not the jaundiced argument of where Ogunmola hails from in Ondo State. Five Ilaje indigenes had represented Ondo State at NDDC as Commissioners without anything tangible to show for their representation.

” We have it on good record that the contract for the reclamation of Ayetoro Ocean incursion has been awarded three times to some ex-commissioners from Ondo State in NDDC but today, Ayetoro has been submerged by the Atlantic Ocean. ” Why have these ex-militants not gone after these ex-commissioners to ensure that the reclamation project is completed to rescue the Ayetoro community from the biting pangs of the ocean incursion?

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The statement recalls that the immediate past minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, was rejected by the three senators from Rivers State during his screening and confirmation by the senate in 2015. Nevertheless, the leadership of the senate in its wisdom considered the rejection as bad politics taken too far and thus confirmed him for the position. It’s the same way we believe Mr Ogunmola’s nomination will be confirmed by the distinguished senate.

” The same senate screened and confirmed H.E Nsima Ekere as the MD of the NDDC relying on the provisions of the Act that established the Commission. There is no oil in the village of Ekere in Akwa Ibom yet every stakeholder in the state rallied for him during his nomination, screening and confirmation by the Senate.

” Yes, Ogunmola, like H.E Ekere, does not have crude oil in his village in Ondo State but he is legally qualified to serve as an ED on the NDDC Board because Ondo State is one of the nine oil-producing states recognised by the Act. As stated by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu during the screening of Ogunmola at the senate, the same Senate once screened and confirmed Chief Ugochukwu Onyema from Abia State as the Managing Director of NDDC yet there is no oil in the local government that Chief Onyema comes from. By the way, is there crude oil in the Ilaje Mahin Kingdom of Mr. Gbenga Edema the nominee for the commissioner to represent Ondo State on the Board of NDDC?

For the umpteenth time, we restate again that the choice of Ogunmola will not deny the oil-producing communities in the state the benefits accruable to them because he has a name to protect. By the way, there are indigenes of Ilaje LGA serving on the cocoa board in Ondo state yet no community in Ilaje or Ese-Odo has a cocoa plantation. It’s the same thing for precious minerals like limestone and bitumen which Ilaje does not have yet its sons and daughters serve on the boards controlling some of these minerals with no eyebrow from any of the communities producing them for the purpose of unity and stability in the state.

It’s our belief that the distinguished senate will ignore the ignoble gang up against Ogunmola now and follow its own precedent in confirming his nomination just like it did in the case of H.E Ekere and Ogochukwu in the past to promote and deepen ethnic unity in Ondo State.

Also, they will not disgrace President Buhari by rejecting his nominee on the altar of a petty and ridiculous premise that is out of tune with the intention of the Act governing the commission. We urge the distinguished senate not to succumb to blackmail and empty threats from parasitic politicians masquerading as non-existing ex-militants in the state.