NDDC: Ondo, Edo Lose Out As Buhari Recommends Lauretta Onochie, To Senate As Chairman

By Ayodele Oni and Akinwale Kasali

Lobby for the Chairmanship of the Niger Delta Development Commission, (NDDC) has ended. President Mohammadu Buhari has requested the Senate to approve of one of his Aides as Helmsman of the Commission.

Ondo and Edo States were front runners in the lobby, with each of them laying claim to the highest office at the intervention agency.

President Buhari, Wednesday, asked the Senate to confirm the appointment of one of his media aides, Lauretta Onochie, as Chairman for Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board.

Onochie is from Delta State.

Her name, alongside other board nominees were sent to the Senate for confirmation.

The letter, as sent by the President, was read by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.

The letter read in part “Pursuant to Paragraph 14 of Part I(F) of the Third Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I hereby forward for confirmation by the Senate, the appointment of the following persons to constitute the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board.”

Onochie’s name had previously been forwarded to the green chamber to be appointed as a commissioner at Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) but did not scale through due to protests by opposition that she is a card carrying member of the ruling party.

If confirmed, she will be the second woman to hold a top position in the Commission. The first, was Mrs Ibim Semenitari a former Acting Managing Director of the commission, who last week joined the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, after she resigned from the APC a couple of months earlier. She is from Rivers State.