NDDC Board: Tinubu Back-tracks, Okays New Nominees For C-River, Ondo After Protests
BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – Following the deafening protests that trailed the appointments of some individuals to the newly constituted Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board, President Bola Tinubu on Friday approved the immediate replacement of the nominees for both Cross River and Ondo States.
President Bola Tinubu has approved the immediate replacement of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Ondo State Representative nominee, Mr. Victor Akinjo, with a new Ondo State Representative nominee, Hon. Otito Atikase.
For Cross River, the President approved the immediate dropping of Asu Oku Okang with Rt. Hon. Orok Otuk Duke taking his place as the new representative while the initial nominee from Ondo State, Mr Victor Akinjo, has now been replaced by Hon. Otito Atikase.
Presidential spokesman, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, who announced the decision in a statement on Friday titled; “President Tinubu Amends Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board and Management Nomination List”, also said the immediate past Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, has been reappointed to a second term.
With this latest development, Ogbuku is to remain in an acting capacity, pending the confirmation of his reappointment by the Nigerian Senate.
Some youth groups and All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders had mounted opposition to the new NDDC Board and Management team constituted by the President on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, with the Presidential media aide saying the appointments would ensure a new era of successful administration in the Commission in line with his Renewed Hope agenda.
Protesting Youths Shut Down NDDC Office In C-River
On Wednesday, August 30, 2023, some aggrieved All Progressives Congress (APC) youths and supporters in Cross River State took to the streets to protest the appointment of Asu Oku Okang, whom they described as a known PDP stalwart, into the NDDC’s board.
Flaunting placards with inscriptions such as; “Wike Leave CRS alone; “Gov Otu should have a free hand to choose C-River Rep for NDDC Board”; “With Asu Okang, CRS does not have any Rep on NDDC Board”; and “CRS should not be a junkyard for settling non-APC members” among others, the youths, in their protest march, made a brief stop-over at the APC State Secretariat on their way to the NDDC office.
The State APC Chapter Chairman, Barrister Alphonsus Eba, who addressed the angry protesters, appealed to them to remain calm and law-abiding, assuring them that their demand was receiving high-level attention at the appropriate quarters.
Eba, while urging the protesters to guard against allowing hoodlums to hijack the peaceful protest match, also appealed to the presidency to investigate the weak link within Aso Rock to unravel the fifth columnist taking advantage of their position to paint the administration’s good image in bad light.
The aggrieved APC youths had shut down the NDDC secretariat in Calabar, the State capital over the nomination of Okang, whom they described as a known PDP stalwart into the Commission’s Board.
Barricading the entrance into the Secretariat located along the popular Murtala Mohammed Highway to register their displeasure over the appointment, the protests also spilled over to the main highway, thereby disrupting the free-flow vehicular traffic for some time.
Reports indicated that Okang served as the Information Commissioner under the immediate past administration of Senator Ben Ayade before quitting his job following the governor’s defection from the then-ruling PDP in the State to the APC.
In Ondo state, the protesters, who rejected the appointments, said some of the nominees worked against the president during the February 25th polls and should not in any way be rewarded for such bad behaviour and politicking.
The Ondo protesting APC members likened the appointments to “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop”.
