By Banji Ayoola
Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has insisted that it is the turn of Ondo State to produce the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
According to him: “Going by the provisions of the NDDC Act, 2000, and with specific reference to the position of the Managing Director, it is the turn of Ondo State to produce the next Chief Executive of the Commission.
Besides, he threw his weight behind the rejection of Charles Ogunmola’s nomination as Executive Director Projects on the commission’s Governing Board.
He spoke, on Friday, in a statement by his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, declaring: “We have done what is required by Law overtime, to pursue this worthy cause. We shall continue to reactivate all efforts even beyond today, to achieve this aim for our State.”
The governor said: “However, the next collective battle is for all hands to be on deck to achieve what is most desirable in the immediate.
“Put simply, we must all work together to ensure that Ondo State is not short-changed under the flimsy guise of our ‘rejection of an earlier opportunity’. The next EDP of the NDDC is still for the mandate areas of Ondo State to produce.
“We shall give whatever it takes to achieve this. For this reason, we will ensure a more robust, holistic stakeholders engagement, in a matter of days.”
Akeredolu commended the oneness displayed by the three senators representing the state in the National Assembly on their rejection of Ogunmola’s nomination, saying that their insistence on strict adherence to the Act establishing the NDDC was in tandem with the position of the state government on the issue.
Following is the full statement, titled: “NDDC Board Nominations: Our Senators Are Right and They Have Our Support”:
“We receive with pleasure, that the Distinguished Senators representing the three Senatorial Districts of Ondo State have demonstrated unalloyed team spirit, in their joint insistence that the contents of the Act establishing the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) be strictly adhered to.
“Our Senators have taken the step of courage and have refused to accept arbitrariness, when it is evident that it is the path of least resistance. Instead, they have done the right thing by their fearless, selfless and rightful rejection of any infraction on legal authorities, including that, in reference, with regards to the nomination of anyone outside what the NDDC Act stipulates. Their resolve, can only strengthen our oneness and peculiar status as the only oil-producing State in the Southwest, for now. This is one shrewd bipartisan political collaboration worthy of huge commendations.
“If feelers at our disposal are anything to rely upon, it is heart-warming to note, that, on the strength of the resistance and joint rejection by our Senators, the Senate Committee on Niger Delta has rejected the nomination of Mr Charles Ogunmola as nominee for the position of Executive Director, Projects of the NDDC.
“Going by the provisions of the NDDC Act, 2000, and with specific reference to the position of the Managing Director, it is the turn of Ondo State to produce the next Chief Executive of the Commission. We have done what is required by Law overtime, to pursue this worthy cause. We shall continue to reactivate all efforts even beyond today, to achieve this aim for our State.
“Notwithstanding, we urge our Distinguished Senators to sustain this courageous pursuit, for it to berth successfully. We count on them to zealously guide and guard their conscionably displayed passion for the people of the oil-producing areas of Ondo State. We are in congruence with them, as they monitor events between now and the next plennary session, where their report is most likely to be submitted and debated.
“However, the next collective battle is for all hands to be on deck to achieve what is most desirable in the immediate. Put simply, we must all work together to ensure that Ondo State is not short-changed under the flimsy guise of our ‘rejection of an earlier opportunity’. The next EDP of the NDDC is still for the mandate areas of Ondo State to produce. We shall give whatever it takes to achieve this. For this reason, we will ensure a more robust, holistic stakeholders engagement, in a matter of days.
“We thank all stakeholders who stood firm and unwavering in their individual and collective stance against the breach of the NDDC Act in light of the recent nominations.”
The senators from the state, Robert Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo North), Pius Akinyelure (Ondo Central) and Nicholas Tofowomo (Ondo South), had last Thursday unanimously kicked against Ogunmola’s nomination, arguing that the nominee is from Owo in the northern senatorial district of the state as against the oil-producing Ilaje and Ese-Odo local council areas in the southern part of the state.
Explaining the reasons for Ogunmola’s rejection, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions and Senator representing Ondo Central, Senator Ayo Akinyelure said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Strategy, Charles Akinwon, that President Muhammadu Buhari must have been misinformed about the nomination.
According to him: “Though Mr. Charles Ogunmola is from Ondo State he is not from the oil producing area of Ondo State and that was why the three Senators from Ondo State unanimously rejected his nomination.”
However, Akinyelure urged Buhari to “kindly re-forward another qualified person to be screened on the Board of NDDC to represent the good people of Ondo State.”
Ogunmola, from Owo, a non-oil producing area of Ondo State, was nominated by the President, along with 15 other persons, as the Executive Director of Projects in the NDDC board in November this year.
But, the three senators from the state said Ogunmola’s nomination ran contrary to the provisions of Section 12(1) of the NDDC Act, 2000.
According to them, the NDDC Act clearly stated that the nominee for the position of Executive Director, Project of NDDC “shall be an indigene of an oil-producing area”.
The senators stressed that Ogunmola is not an indigene of an oil producing area of Ondo State.
The Senate had on Wednesday referred the screening of the nominees to its Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, which was asked to submit its report on Tuesday for further legislative action.
But the three Ondo senators, in a 8 November letter to Senate President Ahmed Lawan, urged the Senate to uphold the provisions of the NDDC Act 2000 in considering the nominations.
“We write as distinguished senators representing the three senatorial districts of Ondo State to reject the nomination of Mr Charles Ogunmola, as Executive Director, Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC),” the letter partly read.
“Our petition is premised on the fact that the nomination of Mr Charles Ogunmola is non-compliant with the provisions of Section 12(1) of the NDDC(Establishment) Act 2000.
“The aforementioned Act clearly stated that the nominee for the position of Executive Director Projects of NDDC ‘shall be an indigene of oil producing area.’ Mr Charles Ogunmola is not an indigene of oil producing area of Ondo State.”
Earlier, a coalition of lawyers from Ilaje town in the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, Ilaje Lawyers Forum, had sent a petition to the Senate, calling for the rejection of Ogunmola’s nomination for the same reasons.
“We are the sole body of all lawyers of Ilaje extraction from Illaje Local Government Area (LGA) of Ondo State and we hereby write this petition in a representative capacity, of the long suffering citizens, of all producing llaje LGA,” the petition reads.
“We petition your noble office in protest against the arbitrary and illegal nomination of one Mr. Charles B. Ogunmola (“Mr. Ogunmola”) for the position of the Executive Director, Projects (EDP) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, pursuant to his letter to your goodself dated 21 October 2022.
“Please see page 2 of the said letter where Mr. Ogunmola was listed as Nominee No. 15. We hereby appeal to your noble office to refuse the confirmation of the said Mr. Ogunmola for the EDP position.”
Also, the lawmaker representing Ilaje/Ese-Odo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Kolade Akinjo, had also urged the Senate to reject Ogunmola, saying it was against the Act that established the commission.
He said the nomination was against “the letters of Section 12(1) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) (Establishment etc) Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as NDDC Act) which provides that:
“There shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director, and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in the order of production.”
