#NDDC gate: President Buhari urged to prevail on Akpabio to resign as Minister

•We are tired of Akpabio as minister of Niger Delta Affairs -IIA

Following the perceived deliberate moves by the Minister of Niger affairs, senator Godswill Akpabio to continue the delay in the inauguration of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, substantive board, the Ijaw Interest Advocates, IIA, alias, Izanzan Intellectual Camp has cried aloud, calling on president Muhammadu Buhari to disregard Akpabio’s antics and immediately inaugurate the NDDC board to avoid unnecessary crisis in the Niger Delta.

This was made available to Congress newspaper by the group’s president Amb. Arerebo Salaco Yerinmene on Wednesday.

According to the group, it was barbaric and senesless for the minister of Niger Delta to direct people agitating for the inauguration of NDDC board to channel their grievances to Mr. President, adding his action showed that he is incompetent.

Amb. Salaco, reiterated that Akpabio’s fraudulent mismanagement of NDDC and the region were creating unnecessary tension in the oil rich Niger Delta, noting that such was adversely affecting the peaceful co-existence of the host communities and the operations of the multi national oil companies.

The group queried: “His major priority is how he can fraudulently continue to maintain himself as the sole authority to all the accounts of NDDC which to us is highly unacceptable”

The group lamented: “It is obvious that, Akpabio as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and supervisory Minister of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has ran out of ideas and can no longer manage the affairs of the commission as well as the Niger delta ministry with his unsubstantiated lies. Since he took over the affairs of the commission is from one twist of unbelievable drama to another with endless protests from the people of the region. Is the Niger Delta ministry the only ministry in the Federal Republic of Nigeria under this government? But the reasons for his intrigues are not far fetched, it is because we have a greedy minister that speaks from the both sides of the mouth”.

The statement further reads:”As a matter of fact, it is provocative for Akpabio to assert in his latest statement, referring and directing people from the Niger delta region who are genuinely protesting against the continuous illegalities and delay in the inauguration of the NDDC board under his supervision to henceforth channel their grievances and protests to President Buhari. This is a clear case of incompetence.

“We have earlier warned for the presidency to immediately call Akpabio to order to stop using the name of President Buhari to cover up his lies and atrocities as regards the mismanagement of funds and delay in constitution of the NDDC substantive board.

“Akpabio’s fraudulent mismanagement of NDDC and the region are creating unnecessary tension in the oil rich Niger Delta, that is adversely affecting the peaceful co-existence of the host communities and the operations of the multi national oil companies”.

The press release which he titled as “Akpabio’s Deliberate Show Of Incompetence To Put Blame On Mr. President Buhari, We Are tired Of Akpabio’s Gimmicks, He should resign Immediately” said: “Trottling round and settling individuals with money and paying people for praise singing will not bring an eventual peace to the region, won’t stop the people from agitating, nor will it overturn the genuine demand by the people to do the right thing by constituting the NDDC board for even representation by all states for functionality.

“In the Niger Delta region there are core issues that are unattended to but Akpabio is only interested in perpetuating a game plan to hold onto only to the financial jaws of NDDC that will enable him to continue his looting spree.

“We have issues of Illegal bunkering activities, pipeline destructions, pollution in our waterways as a result of spillage, communal conflicts between oil companies and host communities and a lot of others which ought to be attended to but Akpabio as minister do not consider his ministry and the NDDC as part of the immediate government offices charged with the aforementioned primary responsibilities to create anabling environment for companies to operate.

“His major priority is how he can fraudulently continue to maintain himself as the sole authority to all the accounts of NDDC which to us is highly unacceptable.

“Because of the sensitive nature of our region, we the people of the Niger Delta region are urgently calling on the Presidency for Akpabio’s immediate replacement with a capable and selfless person with love for the Niger Delta as minister of Niger Delta Affairs, that will follow and uphold the rule of law and the act establishing the NDDC squarely to do the right things by immediatly constituting the substantive board to bring back normalcy to the region.

“The region is in dire need of a replacement that will allay the fears of the region by attending to the primary needs of the region and not a supervisory minister that will solely loot the commonwelath of the people to the detriment of the regions peace and development.

“The Akpabio’s NDDC is not working as staff too can barely count number of days they are allowed into the offices because of endless protest by various groups in the region.

“Therefore, at this premise, we are boldly calling on Akpabio to resign immediately for a more purposeful, committed and sincere person to take over the affairs of the ministry to enbale us regain a normalcy in NDDC and a stable region while also calling on President Buhari to heed to our call as the entire Niger Delta people are tired of Akpabio’s superlative gimmicks that are creating instability in the commission and our region at large” he said.