N'Delta Group Accuses Sylva, Lokpobiri, of Destabilising NDDC over Board's Tenure

A group, Youth Initiative for Education, Development and Empowerment of Niger Delta has accused former governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva and Minister of State for Agriculture, Hon. Heineken Lokpobiri of stoking embers of conflict and pandering falsehood to destabilising the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) over the tenure of the present board.

The group lamented that it was reprehensible that they would continue to insist that the tenure of the present NDDC board should expire this December on the basis of their claim that the said board was appointed to complete the tenure of the board it succeeded.

The president of the group, Ambassador Agbonkpolor Splendor stated this yesterday at a press briefing in Abuja , where he stressed that in recent times, notable sons of the region had thrown decency overboard, engaged in unpatriotic acts capable of hindering the renewed growth and development in Niger Delta.

He stated: “for any individual or group of individuals out of desperation to continue to stoke the ember of conflict and pandering falsehood over the tenure of the present board of NDDC is unhelpful and begs the question on the real issues of development in the region.

“Let us make the point and strongly too, that argument is a wasteful attempt to unilaterally rewrite the enabling law that set up the commission. Even the Section 5(3) which they are relying on is irrelevant as it clearly applies to situations in which there is a substantive board in place and a vacancy or indeed a number of vacancies happen to occur therein

“However, nowhere in this or any other section of the Act is there even the slightest indication that such tenure completion is envisaged for the entire board or even that a new board might complete the tenure of a sacked one,

“it is curious that they failed to realise that when the commission's board was reconstituted, it was without any other members from the board it succeeded...,and cannot possibly be envisaged under any legal parameters as liable to exit their offices with persons no longer on board,” Splendor added.

The group therefore called on the federal government to ignore calls capable of balkanising the nation by vested interests.