Again, Group Writes Buhari, APC Leadership, Urges NDDC Board Inauguration

*Restates need to galvanise region for APC ahead of 2023 election
  Following the successful completion of its special convention and the emergence of its presidential candidate for the 2023 election, a group of concerned APC members in the Niger Delta region has again requested President Buhari and the APC leadership to hearken to authentic stakeholders in the Niger Delta states who have stridently expressed their dismay and frustration over the inexplicable delay to inaugurate the NDDC substantive Board. In a follow-up letter to President Buhari and the APC National leadership, the APC group, “Committed members of the APC from the Niger Delta Region,” whose letter was signed by the trio of Ebibomo Akpoebide, Menegbo Nwinuamene, and Itam Edem, stated that they are further encouraged to write again to the President and the leadership of APC because they are “reasonably informed that the APC presidential aspirants promised to take-up the matter with you, President Buhari to ensure that the Board (NDDC) is inaugurated expeditiously, aware of the negative impact it will have on our party ahead of the campaigns now that the primaries to elect candidates have been concluded, from State House of Assembly members to the Presidential candidate.” The APC group further stated that “given the various encounters our presidential aspirants had with party delegates from Akwa Ibom, Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, to Rivers states, our party should no longer be in doubt about the mood of the people of the region with regard to their genuine angst towards the Federal Government for the way we have been badly treated by certain elements in the Federal Government who feed fat on the resources of our region.” The APC group which also thanked President Buhari for “keeping to your words and ensuring that all presidential aspirants were given a fair chance to present themselves to the party’s delegates and be voted for,” also commended the leadership of APC for “ensuring a hitch-free and transparent exercise.” It however noted that it is against the unending calls by Niger Deltans for a halt to the “ongoing illegality in NDDC that we follow-up on our letter last week to you, President Buhari and the leadership of our great party entitled “Letter to President Buhari and the APC Leadership on the Ongoing Illegality in the NDDC and the Implications for the APC in the 2023 Election” 
Akpoebide, Nwinuamene, and Edem, reminded President Buhari of the alarm they raised in their earlier letter on the looming consequences of APC’s ill-treatment of the region, especially the ongoing illegality of administering NDDC with a Sole Administrator contraption in violation of the enabling law, the NDDC Act. According to the APC group, “we specifically cautioned that as it stands, the APC cannot win an election in the region except the missteps in NDDC are remedied and the NDDC substantive Board is inaugurated in accordance with the law setting up the Commission.”

The group also reminded President Buhari and APC leadership that a notable group in the region, The Niger Delta Rescue Movement (NDRM) has already vowed not to back the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections following the delay to inaugurate a substantive board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The APC group recounted that while receiving the leadership of Ijaw National Congress (INC) in Abuja on June 24, 2021, President Buhari had said that the Board will be inaugurated once the forensic audit report was submitted.  
According to the President, ‘‘based on the mismanagement that had previously bedeviled the NDDC, a forensic audit was set up and the result is expected by the end of July, 2021. I want to assure you that as soon as the forensic audit report is submitted and accepted, the NDDC Board will be inaugurated.” That report has been submitted to the President since September 2, 2021, yet he has delayed to inaugurate the board.  The Committed APC members also observed that “despite further assurances that the submission of the report would see to the inauguration of the board, it has not ended the delays, manipulations and hijacking of the NDDC by vested interests. This foremost federal government agency set up to right the wrongs in the Niger Delta over the years is still being run by a sole administrator appointed in breach of the NDDC Act.” The group therefore urged President Buhari to “now reboot and reclaim your affinity and APC’s connection with the Niger Delta people after three years of the former Minister’s disastrous manipulation of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which has angered all stakeholders in the region, and thereby make amends for the damage done to the APC in the region.” The group reminded President Buhari that as a leader “who has consistently vowed to be guided by the rule of law, the continued administration of the NDDC by Interim management committee / sole administrator is illegal because the NDDC Act has no provision for this illegality as the NDDC Act only provides that the Board and Management of the NDDC at any point in time should follow the provisions of the law which states that the Board and management is to be appointed by you, the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate.” The APC group therefore urged President Buhari “to keep to your promise of June 24, 2021, to end the illegal sole administratorship at the NDDC, inaugurate the NDDC Governing Board in line with the NDDC Act to represent the nine constituent states, and thereby ensure proper corporate governance, accountability, transparency, and probity in managing the Commission.” 
According to the group, President Buhari will be “heeding the call of Niger Delta leaders, youths, women, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, whose voices you have persistently heard loud and clear on the need to administer NDDC in accordance with the law, the NDDC Act. This, Mr. President, we restate, is the minimum the Federal government and the APC can do to win back the trust of the Niger Delta people and stand a chance to do well in the region, in the forthcoming 2023 general election.”