NDDC: Senate May Ambush Nominations

inShare

Three days after President Goodluck Jonathan forwarded the list of nominees into the governing board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the Senate for consideration, there are strong indications that some of the nominees may have a tough time scaling the hurdles of clearance.
Indications emerged yesterday that some senators loyal to the governors who were sidelined in the nomination process, namely Rotimi Amaechi(Rivers), Rochas Okorocha(Imo) and Adams Oshiomhole(Edo), have commenced subtle moves to ensure that nominees, especially state representatives from the three states are not cleared.
By the law setting up the NDDC, nominations for state representative slots must have the endorsement of at least two of the three senators from an affected state.
A senator loyal to one of the three governors confided in LEADERSHIP Friday yesterday that nominations for state representatives without the input of the governors were bound to ‘hit the rocks’.
“What we have seen is that the president has simply asked governors whom he perceived are loyal to him to recommend persons to him for listing as members of the board; some of us see this as very unfortunate.
“One, the issue of NDDC is not supposed to be played like we are playing politics; we all are crying that the Niger-Delta region needs development but from the nominations so far, we have seen that Mr President does not want to separate politics from the NDDC because he has simply ignored some of the governors either because they are not in the same political party with him or they hold different views from his on certain issues; this is bad.
“What I can say for now is that, if things are not corrected on time, some of the nominees will hit brick walls and return home from the senate because the same way the governors were ignored, the nominees will be ignored and left to their fate”, he said.
But it was learnt that the affected nominees for state representatives from Imo and Rivers are also not taking it lightly as they are said to have been sending emissaries to some of their senators since the list was unveiled.  
Fourteen months after the dissolution of the former substantive board, President Jonathan had on Wednesday, forwarded the list of nominees into the governing board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to the senate for consideration.
 Curiously, the development appears to have posted a new vista in the frosty relationship between the Presidency and the G-7 on one hand, and the opposition elements on the other, as the nominations, unlike before, did not have input from governors Rotimi Amaechi(Rivers), Adams Oshiomhole(Edo) and Rochas Okorocha(Imo).
 All the same, pro-Jonathan governors - Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Emmanuel Uduaghan(Delta), Liyel Imoke(Cross River), Seriake Dickson(Bayelsa), Olusegun Mimiko(Ondo) and Theodore Orji(Abia) all have their loyalists listed in the letter addressed to the senate president, David Mark.