NDDC Board: Tompolo Backs Down, Talks Love For Nigeria

Ex-Militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly called Tompolo, has backed down on the seven-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government for the inauguration of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board

Tompolo said on Saturday that for the love of Nigeria, the proposal by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio to have a new board in place by the end of June 2021 has reluctantly accepted.

Senator Akpabio had met with Niger Delta stakeholders in Delta State on Thursday, after which he also visited and engaged Tompolo at his Oporoza den in Warri South-west, Delta State on ways of avoiding possible fresh crisis in the Niger Delta region over continuous delay in installing a new NDDC board.

The Minister thereafter released a video recording about having fruitful consultations with the ex-militant leader and other Niger Delta stakeholders.

And reacting to the development in a statement on Saturday, Tompolo is quoted as saying that his intervention in the matter was motivated by his “love for the region and Nigeria. I make bold to say that I cannot be compromised by money and other material things.”

According to him, “The only thing one can do for Nigeria in these trying times, where all the six geopolitical zones are in turmoil, is to pray to God for peace and tranquillity, particularly for the economic hub of the country, the Niger Delta region.”

He said following the Minister’s pledge to “start the process of the constitution and inauguration of the substantive board of the NDDC immediately (from Friday June 4th 2021)” he (Akpabio) should be “allowed to drive the process to an end on or before the end of June 2021.

“As it stands now, I have accepted the outcome of the meeting reluctantly. It is pertinent to state at this juncture that I do not want anything to disrupt the relative peace we are enjoying in the region.

“It was on this premise that I accepted the outcome of the meeting. The ultimate goal in this issue is for the minister to abide by the promise he has made to start the process of constituting the NDDC board now.

“Government shenanigans must be put away in this matter, as constituting the NDDC board is very dear to the heart of the people of the region.”

Speaking for the stakeholders at the Thursday meeting in Gbaramatu, the President of Ijaw National Congress (INC), Professor Benjamin Okaba, had expressed disappointment at what he called the crisis in the various management of the NDDC.

He faulted Akpabio’s position that the forensic auditing of the NDDC was responsible for the delay in constituting its board.

“Auditing of any establishment can go together with the running of the system. The 1999 constitution that has obvious infractions is being altered, but we have not suspended Nigeria. We have not appointed a sole administrator to run Nigeria.

“We also know that in the organogram and composition of the NDDC, the management board constitutes a little proportion of the workings of that place. We have directors and heads of department that are still working. Monies are going out. We have further cases of infractions without the board.

“The Ijaw youths, Isoko, Itsekiri youths gave 30 days ultimatum. There was no intervention from anybody. How else do you tell the people that they are fools? How else do you tell the people that they can go and die?

“We are very bitter. The entire Niger Delta is standing behind High Chief Tompolo. If nothing happens at the expiration of the ultimatum, don’t blame anybody if anything happens.”

“We have seen this happen before and that is why we are very careful”, the INC President warned