NDDC: Ogunmola’s Nomination Threatened As Group Demands Substitution, Threatens Unrest In Region

By Akinwale Kasali

A Group under the auspices of Ilaje Parapo Forum, IPF, has rejected the nomination of Charles Ogunmola as the Executive Director of Project in Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

The Group said that Charles Ogunmola does not share any connection with Ilaje Local Government, the only oil producing Local Government Area in Ondo State.

IPF said it is at pains as to how he was nominated to the office of the Executive Director of Project of the NDDC Board.

In a Statement signed by IPF President, Foluso Ajimuda and his Secretary, Tayo Enikanselu, the Group said the good people of Ilaje and the gods of their  fathers are against the nomination of Charles Ogunmola because his nomination is a fraud and wickedness that we shall fight with the last drop of our blood.

The Group has, therefore, written a petition to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, calling on the Senate to disregard the nomination, stressing that whosoever that have forwarded  Ogunmola’s name to Mr President for Executive Director of Project of the NDDC Board has only done that to register his hatred and wickedness to the Ilaje nation for its God-given oil resources and by implication inviting the wrath of the gods of their fathers whose people and environment have been put in jeopardy as a result of oil exploration and exploitation in the Area.

The petition against Ogunmola reads; “Sir, recall that some times in 2016 one Mr Ajasin Olatokunbo from Owo Local Government, about 250 kilometers away from the oil bearing and producing Communities of Ilaje Local Government, was nominated to represent Ondo State on the Board of NDDC. Charles Ogunmola who is also nominated to be the Executive Director of Projects is another person from Owo Local Government.

We take solace in the meticulousness of the Senate Committee on NDDC under Your Excellency who saved us from illegally giving a position that is exclusively reserved for an Ilaje person to and Owo man in 2016, will also save us at this critical time.

“On Section 12 (1) of the NDDC Establishment Act, “There shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director, and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in the order of production”.

The Group said it stands firmly on that Constitution, and pleaded with the Senate President to look into the issue as it stated that the Ilaje nation has always been pushed to the wall about issues around its oil resources.

It has threatened to fight using every method within its reach, promising to make the region ungovernable as they swill stage a massive protest that will have an adverse effect on governance.

“We are now like the proverbial goat that is pushed to the wall whose bite could be more venomous than that of a viper.

“On the strength of the above well laid foundation and unassailable premise. We humbly reject the nomination of Mr. Charles Ogunmola as executive director of project and urge the senate to step down his ratification and also call on the president to appoint in his place an indigene of the oil producing area in Ilaje LGA of Ondo State.

“This will go a long way in ensuring the sustainability of the age long bond, cohesion, and understanding between the people and the government and ultimately guarantee full confidence in this government.

“We hope your intervention by not confirming Charles Ogunmola as Executive Director of Projects of NDDC Board will save us from the wickedness and injustice of the oppressors of Ilaje nation”.

It would be recalled that a  lawmaker representing Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency, Kolade Akinjo, has urged the Senate to oppose President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of Ogunmola.

According to Akinjo, Ogunmola’s nomination is in violation of the Act that created the commission because he is from the Owo Local Government Area and not any of the Ondo South communities that produce oil, particularly in Ilaje and Ese-Odo local Council Areas.

While rejecting the nomination, Hon. Akinjo stated in a protest letter to the Senate that it is in violation of “the letters of Section 12(1) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) (Establishment etc) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as NDDC Act), which provides that:

“There shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director, and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in the order of production.”