Kokori To Buhari: You Are Not In Charge; Says Cabal Eating Our Money

By Charles Igbo

From unexpected quarters came a stern warning, followed by an unsolicited advice, to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The warning and advice came from Frank Kokori, a member of the President’s All Progressives Congress, APC.

According to Kokori, President Buhari is not in  in charge of his government, but has instead, abdicated  it to a group he refereed to as a cabal.

Angered by the planned reconstitution of the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, by the President, Kokori said he was surprised that the President had left the running of such an important Commission in the hands of three people hand-picked by one man.

The three people are the members of the Interim Management Committee, IMC , constituted to run the Commission until after an ordered forensic audit.

But Kokori wondered why the IMC is still in place even after the confirmation of the Board members by the Senate.

Kokori: The way the thing is now with three persons nominated by one man running that mighty organisation is very unconventional, especially for a place like the Niger Delta region. It is not possible.

“How can you just give the whole thing to just there persons, and you say until they finish audit. Do you know how long the forensic audit will take to finish?

“Let the current Pius-led Board continue, especially, when you do not have anything against them, and let the IMC hand over quickly. The audit should be done quickly and not leave our money in the hands of a few cabals eating our money”.

The Senate had earlier screened members of the NDDC board whose names were forwarded to it by the President. But the members, whose confirmed Chairman is  former Deputy Governor of Edo State, Pius Odubu, under the governorship of Adams Oshiomhole,  now National Chairman of the the APC, were not inaugurated by the President.

Instead, the IMC, led by Barr Joy Nuneh, was put in place to the outrage of not a few people, institutions and associations, including the Senate. Nobody knows their date.

Governors of  Oil Producing States had protested to the President, the constitution of the Board, saying they had no input.

Recently,  President Buhari announced he would re-constitute the Board.

Kokori, a former General Secretary of NUPENG, made his name during the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha when he led oil workers on a strike to protest the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections, presumably won by late Chief Moshood Abiola.

He subsequently joined politics, but has not quite made much impact, or gained much from it.