Former Bayelsa State Governor and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timpriye Sylva and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio are set for a showdown over the appointment of the Managing Director for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
For weeks now, stakeholders in the region have been Clamouring for a the constitution of the NDDC board, forcing former Niger Delta militant and warlord, Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo, to give the President Muhammadu Buhari Government a seven-day ultimatum for the NDDC board to be reconstituted.
He later rescinded his decision, and extended the ultimatum till end of June 2021.
However, allegations reveal that there has been politicking between the two top Ministers from the region in Buhari’s cabinet trying to influence the appointment for their preferred Candidates.
Sylva is promoting Maxwell Okoh to become the NDDC Managing Director. Okoh is from his area in Bayelsa East, while Akpabio is promoting the interest of his Candidate, Denyabofa Dimaro, from Bayelsa West.
This has, however, been a bone of contention among the Ministers, who are said to be working tirelessly with major stakeholders in the region, consulting and selling their Candidates to the people.
Following this development, Bayelsa State Monarchs in Ekeremor Local Government of the State are criticising Sylva for alleged lopsided appointments into Federal Agencies and Parastatals coming to the state.
The Monarchs alleged that Sylva is ceding every appointment coming to the State to his kinsmen, neglecting Ekeremor LG which produces vast portion of the oil revenue from the State.
They frowned at the lopsidedness in his activities in the Minsitry, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint the Chairman or Managing Director of the soon-to-be inaugurated Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, from Ekeremor LGA, due to thr vast portion of the oil revenue from the state coming from the area to compensate the LGA.
In a protest letter signed by HRH Perekebina Alfred, the Paramount Ruler of Koromotoru Kingdom; Chief Alexander Daunemighan, Paramount Ruler of Peretorugbene Federated Communities and Seven other traditional rulers in Ekeremor, they said that their area has more oil wells than Nembe, where Sylva hails from, but he decided to overlook them for his own kith and kin thereby denying other zones in the state from benefitting from Federal appointments to the state.
The Monarchs called on the Minister to throw his weight behind and support their son from Ekeremor, Denyanbofa Dimaro, for the position of Managing Director of NDDC to resolve the anomalies created by him.
Dimaro is a staunch All Progressive Congress, APC, Chieftain, prompting his people to bring in a caveat that if considered for the NDDC top job, it will be a platform for Ekeremor people to join the APC, and in turn secure victory for the party in the next coming elections.
The Monarchs also alleged that Sylva, having taken up the Ministerial appointment in the President Buhari’s administration, controls the Nigerian Content Monitoring and Development Board, NCDMB, the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas with his kinsmen, Simbi Wabote and Chief Edmund Daukoru, as Executive Secretary and Chairman respectively, urging Sylva to strike a balance by supporting their Son, Dimaro.
“It clearly shows that the Bayelsa West, comprising Ekeremor and Sagbama local government areas are unfairly treated. The Ekeremor LGA is a major oil and gas producing areas, besides it also proved substantial votes for the APC in the 2015 and 2019 general elections that gave APC victory at the polls.
“We are, therefore, pleading with Mr. President to consider giving the appointment of the substantive Managing Director of the NDDC to Smyrna form the within the above mention communities in the Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state, as particularly as already be announced in the media.
“In our opinion, the polity and the region are already over heated and anything that will bring about further agitations should be avoided”, the Monarchs said.
Sylva was further indicted by a Civil Rights Group, the Niger Delta Oil and Gas Producing Communities, NDOGPC, who accused the Minister for also having a hand in seeming delay in constitution of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, following his interest in nominating Maxwell Okoh, from Bayelsa East District.
In a statement by the group’s National Coordinator, Chief Preye Olomu, he said Sylva is interested in nominating a Candidate, Maxwell Okoh, who is an inexperienced young man from his area.
He added that his choice has caused disaffection and uproar from people of the Bayelsa West District.
Olomu commended Akpabio for his choice of an Ekeremor son from Peretorugbene, Dimaro to be the Managing Director for the forthcoming board, hinted that Sylva has single handedly without consultations nominated other federal appointees without ceding any to the Bayelsa West District.
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