By Nwafor Sunday
Following Barrister Jesutega Onokpasa’s statement that NDDC chairman and MD/CEO should go to Delta state in the next dispensation, a group known as Coalition for truth in Nigeria, has thrown its weight behind Onokpasa, noting that it is the turn of Delta state to occupy the position of Chairman and Managing Director/ Chief Executive officer as a new board is to be constituted for the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
In a statement signed by Adrew Osai Eke, the group opined that “As maybe clearly gleaned from the chart on page 20 of the Vanguard newspaper (May 1, 2019), While the position of the Chairman of the Board rotates alphabetically amongst all nine NDDC states, the position of MD/CEO rotates amongst the four major oil producing states of Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers.
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“So far it has been occupied in a substantive capacity by all four of these states, starting from Delta, then Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom which last occupied the post in the person of the immediate past substantive MD/CEO.
“It must now return to Delta where it began from inception. “As for the two executive directorships, they clearly go to two of the four major oil producing states. “Because the top three executive positions are less than the number of major oil producing states which are four, one of these states is always left out when these positions have been shared as was the case with Bayelsa in the just dissolved board.
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“We agree with Onokpasa that it is completely unacceptable for one Niger Delta to seek to shortchange a sister Niger Delta state by appropriating its slot to produce its MD of commission.
“Moreover, it is not the turn of Bayelsa or indeed any other NDDC state to produce MD/CEO of the NDDC in the soon to be constituted board.
“Indeed as a matter of incontrovertible truth and justice, it is the turn of Delta state to produce both the Chairman of the board and the MD/CEO of the commission and no other configuration will be fair, just, equitable or acceptable to Deltans”.