Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state on Thursday told Godswill Akpabio, minister of Niger Delta to listen to the voice of the people of the Niger Delta and constitute the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Governor Okowa, who was represented by his deputy, Kingsley Otuaro, made the call when the minister visited Opproza, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom to plead with Niger Delta warlord, Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo over his six day ultimatum to inaugurate board of the NDDC.
Okowa told Akpabio frontally that Nigeria is at the threshold of implosion, noting that every part of the nation, South East, South West, Middle Belt and North East is in turmoil, a development which shows a failure of leadership in Nigeria.
He told the minister that “we cannot explain why an institution as the NDDC that is a product of an act is being run in flagrant abuse of power that established it under the garbage of a forensic audit.
“We are in a representative democracy, that means you must listen to the people. The people have said there must be a board. The whole of Delta state government was standing on its toes making calls to all nooks and crannies to ensure that there is peace in Niger Delta.
“This was because in a matter of days we would have seen this region in turmoil. We were on our toes. In 2016, we all knew what happened in this region. God forbid us returning to such again. The voice of the people must be listened to. We want the substantive board of the NDDC reinstated as soon as possible.
“There is no phenomenon that forecloses a statutory organisation for the sake of an audit. The board needs be put in place. We don’t want anything untoward in this region. On behalf of the governor of Delta state who is not unaware of this consultation meeting, we want to say a substantive board be inaugurated as soon as possible. That is the voice of the people. We don’t want what happened in 2016 to repeat itself.”
