Rights activists defend NDDC Mgt, seeks unhindered forensic audit
By Omeiza Ajayi – Abuja
A civil society organization, Peoples Alliance for Indigenous Rights PAIR, has berated what it described as the show of shame by some ex-officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC, regarding ongoing efforts to audit the interventionist agency.
At a press briefing Thursday in Abuja, the group said it is opposed to the style adopted by a former Managing Director of the commission, Ms. Joi Nunieh in fighting her cause, describing it as overly dramatic and somewhat staged managed.
National Coordinator of the group, Iriogbe Emmanuel and National Secretary, James Okoronkwo, therefore called on the House of Representatives and Ms. Nunieh to allow the forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari, rather than engage in media trial.
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They alleged that Ms. Nunieh has weaponized ‘kidnap and sexual harassment’ in order to score some political mileage.
They said: “We have since observed the unfortunate drama playing out in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, and wish to state that facts have become obscured as the drama and playing to the gallery has taken centre stage.
“If those, especially Ms. Joy Nunieh, a former Managing Director of the NDDC, were out to expose corruption as have been alleged by them, then this unnecessary orchestrated drama would not be part of the ‘fact-finding’ by the House of Representatives.
“It is regrettable that those who parade themselves as saints are in themselves mired deep in rot, therefore, the determination to smear others with mud.
On Thursday, it was alleged that Ms. Nunieh’s home in Port Harcourt was besieged by gun-wielding security men.
“How convenient! To imagine that this is happening barely after 24 hours when the Rivers state governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, warned against any attempt to undermine the security and life of Ms. Nunieh speak to a sinister plot by those who hope to gain from this macabre plot.
READ ALSO: Rights activists defend NDDC Mgt, seeks unhindered forensic audit
“Today, Governor Wike is seen as a ‘superhero’ for ‘rescuing’ the ex-MD of the embattled commission when credible sources suggest it was a hatchet plot by the ‘superhero.’
“Also, it is pertinent to state that in all of the shouting, puffing, and huffing, Ms. Nunieh is yet to tender any document to the House of Representatives, who by the way the chairman of the house committee on NDDC, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, is enmeshed in allegation of having benefitted from a road contract.
“While it is not cast in stone that some things may have gone wrong, Ms. Nunieh and her co-travellers should allow the forensic audit ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari to go on. It is only proper that any grievances and allegations of wrongdoing should be channeled to the audit panel and not the red herring all over the place.
“The new management of the NDDC, the Interim Management Committee and Minister of the Niger Delta, Senator Godswill Akpabio, should be allowed some breathing space to reposition a terribly battered commission”.
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