NDDC: ‘Don’t Involve Me In Your Unnecessary Dramas As A Result Of Alleged Power Struggle In The Villa’ – Clark

Elder statesman and South-south leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, on Tuesday, says he doesn’t want to be drawn into the unnecessary and frivolous controversies surrounding the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Clark spoke while denying reports that he had backed the inauguration of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) for the commission.

The former federal information commissioner said that he neither support the NDDC’s IMC nor backed the substantive board recently screened by the senate.

Clark however linked the NDDC’s composition debacle to “alleged power struggle in the villa”, saying that at his age, position and status in the country, he would not want to be drawn into unnecessary, frivolous and unwarranted controversies.

He said that he only gave his nod to the President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives that a forensic audit be carried out on the activities of the Commission since inception in order to overhaul and clear the mess before a new board takes over.

Recalls that Ijaw leader was quoted in some reports that he had threw his weight behind the NDDC’s IMC during the condolence visit to him on the demise of his younger brother by Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, the NDDC’s acting executive director of projects.

In a statement he personally signed and made available to BIGPEN Online Tuesday evening, Clark wrote: “I hereby refute the statement as contained in the said publications that I back the NDDC Interim Management Committee.

“Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, the Acting Executive Director of Projects, NDDC, is my political son with whom I have close and affectionate relations.

“I was, therefore, very glad when he led a delegation of the Commission to pay me a condolence visit at my country home Kiagbodo, following the death of one of my younger brothers, Major General H. U. Clark, rtd. During the visit, Dr. Ojougboh appreciated that the occasion was too sad and mournful for me and my family to discuss political matters.

“In welcoming them, I commended once again, Mr. President, for approving that a forensic audit be carried out on the activities of the Commission since inception in order to overhaul and clear the mess before a new Board takes over.

“My support for the President’s appointment of a Forensic Auditor to look into the books of NDDC has been well known. Indeed, I said so longtime ago. I have felt that how intense to carry out the audit as expeditiously as possible, was his responsibility, 

“I did not say I backed the NDDC Interim Management Committee or even the swearing in of the new Board which has been confirmed by the Senate, almost at the same time the Interim Committee was set up.

“I am going to 93 years and I know my position and status in the country, I do not, therefore, want to be drawn into unnecessary, frivolous and unwarranted controversies as a result of the alleged power struggle in the Villa, which is no doubt a repetition of Ibrahim Magu’s confirmation case where the same Villa condemned the confirmation”.