A Niger Delta group, Save Ijaw Nation (SIN), has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of Lauretta Onochie as the substantive chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The group urged President Buhari to revoke her nomination immediately for the sake of justice and fairness.
In a letter of protest on Thursday, the group said it was a slap on the face of Ijaw people for the president to nominate someone from an area without oil production.
According to the statement, “The NDDC is a commission whose operations, board appointments, and funding are guided by an act, but we have watched with shock and bewilderment how the President Muhammadu administration has mismanaged the board with illegalities over the years in utter defiance of the act guiding the NDDC,” the letter, signed by Yangaboy Erekedoumene Jonathan, the group’s national coordinator, reads.
“We wish to remind the Gen. Muhammadu-led federal government that in Delta State, the only tribe that is due for NDDC chairman appointment is the Ijaw tribe, who are the largest oil producers, and that all other tribes have been appointed to the board except the Ijaws in the last seven years.
“For emphasis, President Muhammadu should be reminded that the last appointment to the board from Delta State was Chief Cairo Ojugboh from Delta North Senatorial zone therefore, the appointment of the chairman cannot go back to the same zone to the detriment and neglect of the rights of the Ijaw people in Delta State according to the NDDC Act.
“As a group dedicated towards championing justice and fairness particularly when the Ijaw people’s fundamental right to economic and political survival is denied or threatened, we received the appointment of Madam Lauretta Onochie as the NDDC Board Chairman as an insult to the whole Ijaw race in Delta State and a bridge of the NDDC act, hence we call on the federal government to immediately withdraw the erroneous and undeserving appointment and appoint a Delta Ijaw man which is proper, fair, justifiable and legal.
“We believe, justice must prevail at all costs.”
