Ijaw youths under the auspices of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) said that they had lost confidence in the integrity of the ongoing forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
They alleged that the audit exercise had been riddled with manipulations by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
In a statement by its national spokesman, Mr Ebilade Ekerefe,whuch was made available to newsmen on Wednesday stated that, the IYC said that the forensic audit had become an unending process with Akpabio illegally extending the tenure of the commission’s Interim Administrator, Effiong Akwa.
The statement read in bits : “The tenure elongation was a deliberate attempt by the minister to delay the appointment of a substantive board for the NDDC.
” Despite all the support of stakeholders to the process directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, “Akpabio has turned the forensic audit to an unending exercise used to perpetuate corruption and further bleed the commission of scarce funds.”
” Submission of the audit report to Buhari and constitution of a substantive NDDC board in April as earlier promised by Akpabio and consented to by stakeholders of the region, had been shifted unduly to July by the minister.
He said Ijaw youths had no confidence in any report that would be submitted to the President “from the shady and unending forensic audit.”
Ekerefe said findings by the IYC showed that the minister had reportedly usurped the powers of the President and turned the NDDC to a haven of underhand deals, which had continually provoked stakeholders.
According to him, “This is totally unacceptable and will be resisted. We no longer have confidence in the forensic audit because it is a mere ploy to pocket the NDDC under the whims and caprices of the Minister in perpetuity.
“We opine that the governors of the South-South region under the chairmanship of Dr Ifeanyi Okowa should immediately send a strong delegation to President Buhari and restate the position of the region over our displeasure, and warn of the impending danger of not appointing a substantive board at a time other parts of the country are facing serious security crises.”
Ekerefe recalled that Ijaw youths understood Akpabio’s antics from the beginning and staged a peaceful protest last December around the East-West Road to raise concerns, but some stakeholders motivated by selfish interest emboldened him to perpetuate his manipulative ploy.
“They are all disappointed and are now ready to join the IYC in solidarity to resume the mother of all protests at the NDDC headquarters and other strategic federal agencies in the Niger Delta to demand a governing board,” he said.
