Confusion, As Court Says Pondei-led NDDC IMC Was Not Sack, Dismisses Lawsuit

There was palpable confusion in the Niger Delta region on Thursday following a Federal High Court in Abuja order which reportedly stated the Prof. Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was not sacked as was erroneously reported in the media.

BIGPENNGR.COM reports that the development is coming barely a month after President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the Pondei-led IMC, citing a court order and in his place appointed Effiong Okon Akwa as sole administrator of the commission.

But Justice A.R. Mohammed, in his judgment struck out the lawsuit against the IMC by the Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Governance on January 13, 2021.

Buhari had ordered NDDC IMC to step aside for an interim sole administrator to take over the affairs of the Commission on the strength of the court injunction.

But the Justice Muhammed-led court insisted that the NDDC IMC was never dismissed.

The court stated that, “that there was no order for interim injunction (against the IMC) granted by this court”.

The court also ordered in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/617/2020 that two media houses correct the misleading story.

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According to document, the leave sought by the plaintiffs did not amount to an injunction but a permission to sue which was allowed but now stands struck out by subsequent findings of the court in January, 2021.

It is however not clear if President Buhari would harken to the court and reverse the appointment of Akwa as sole administrator of the NDDC.