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NDDC Crisis: APC National Vice Chairman Accuses Akpabio of Embarrassing Party
The National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hillard Eta, has criticised the Niger Delta Minister, Godswill Akpabio, on the crisis rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Mr Eta, in a statement on Sunday, said Mr Akpabio is by his actions and utterances on the NDDC ’embarrassing’ South-South APC leaders and the party.
The NDDC, set up in the year 2000, was an agency in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) until the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr Buhari ordered that the agency be moved to the Niger Delta ministry, headed by Mr Akpabio, a former Akwa Ibom governor.
Since his assumption of office, Mr Akpabio has lamented the corruption in the NDDC, describing it as an ‘ATM’ where top officials simply went to steal public funds.
President Buhari has also condemned the corruption and inefficiency of the agency and set up a committee to probe its activities since 2001. Mr Buhari also sent a list of new board members of the NDDC to the Senate for confirmation.
While Mr Buhari’s nominee list was with the lawmakers, Mr Akpabio announced an interim management team for the agency, set up to ensure the development of the oil-producing Niger Delta.
Mr Eta in his statement demanded the return of the NDDC to the SGF’s office, saying it would help solve its lingering leadership crisis.
He said the crisis has caused embarrassment to the South-South APC stakeholders. He said the forensic audit of NDDC, as requested by the president should be limited to the period of the controversial water hyacinth contract. That controversial contract, from which officials are believed to have siphoned hundreds of millions of naira, is also being investigated by the Senate.
According to Mr Eta, each time somebody from Niger Delta heads the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and asked to oversee the NDDC, he uses it to play personal politics.
The APC chieftain said it was wrong for Mr Akpabio to set up an interim management team for the commission against the team approved by the president.
“Akpabio should not be embarrassing us. The president has set up a governing council and Akpabio would come and set up an interim management committee. It is unacceptable to the stakeholders of the Niger Delta.
“It is our position that the NDDC should be removed from the Ministry of Niger Delta and brought back to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF), under the Presidency where the Niger Delta people can have maximum benefit,” he said.
Mr Eta called on the president to adjust the duration of forensic auditing of the NDDC to commence from the time of water hyacinth contract.
“If there is going to be a forensic audit of NDDC, they should start with the last water hyacinth contract that was done between the office of the Minister of Niger Delta and the office of the Acting Managing Director of NDDC,” he said.
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The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
