Another NDDC Appointment Fraud Scandal Shakes The Presidency; Confusion Over Buhari’s Doctored NDDC List

In 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari blatantly refused to give his approval to the appointment made while he was away at the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), which takes place from August 28–31, 2019, in Japan, despite the persistence of the Nigerian Senate. The appointment made to the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2019 turned out to be a mere hoax and scam.

At that time, BIGPEN NIGERIA (www.bigpenngr.com), citing numerous sources and reasons why the appointment appears to be a scam, had expressed doubts about the appointment, claiming that the “entire appointments is fake‘, and handiwork of jobbers.”

Despite efforts made in several quarters to persuade President Buhari to swear in the senate confirmed and screened nominees, some of whom were said to have paid through the nose to secure the supposed appointment, the appointment busted by this medium has never materialised to this day due to the numerous scandals that it was characterised by.

Sources said that the presidency knew the 2019 appointment was a hoax, hence it resorted to the appointment of a sole administration in contravention of the NDDC Act despite the mirage of protest and agitation that dogged the delayed reappointment to the board of the oil commission.

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the deputy senate president, was accused of being the scandal’s central figure in the botched appointment matter.

BIGPEN NIGERIA (www.bigpenngr.com) has learned that the presidency is currently involved in a new scandal surrounding the NDDC appointment made by President Buhari on November 23, in which Lauretta Onochie, Buhari’s special adviser on social media who is from a non-oil producing area of Delta state, was named substantive chairman of the oil commission. 

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The situation is comparable to the 2019 appointment, in which the NDDC appointment was altered and muddied by the mockery politics of the cabal in the presidency.

The Senate President read the letter from President Buhari that named the 14 members of the NDDC Board, which included Dimgba Arugba, a state representative from Abia (South East), Dr. Emem Wilcox Wills, a state representative from Akwa Ibom (South South), Elder Sen. Dimaro Denyabofa, a state representative from Bayelsa (South South), Hon. Orok Duke, a state representative from Cross River (South South),and Dr Pius Egberanmwen, State representative from Edo (South South).

Other members include: Engr. Anthony Okene, State representative from Imo (South East); Hon Gbenga Edema, State representative from Ondo (South West); Elekwati Dimpa, State representative from Rivers (South South); Alhaji Muhammed Kabir Abubakar, zonal representative from Nasarawa State (North Central); Alhaji Sule Iko Sadiq Sanni, zonal representative from Kebbi State (North West) and Prof. Tahir Mamman, OON, SAN, zonal representative from Adamawa State (North East).

In the list read aloud by Senator Lawan in plenary, Buhari had proposed Major General Charles Airhiavbere (rtd) from Edo State (South South) for the position of Executive Director, Finance, and Charles B. Ogunmola from Ondo State (South West) for the position of Executive Director, Projects. Chief Dr Samuel Ogboku from Bayelsa (South South) was nominated for the position of Managing Director, for a term of two years to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor.

Many senators were upset about the new NDDC appointment, including Omo-Agege, when Senate President Ahmed Lawan announced Lauretta Onochie as the board’s chairman while remaining silent about other names, such as the Managing Director, who oversees the commission’s operational activities.

Reliable sources revealed that Omo-Agege, who prides himself on being the most senior APC leader in the South-South region, was barred from contributing to the list of nominees, in contrast to the new Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Okon Umana, who had individuals on the list nominated by Obong Godswill Akpabio, who still cuts the short in the NDDC.

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One source claimed that Omo-Agege had fought Lawan’s reading of the list on the grounds that a Delta state representative was not included, when in reality he had been allegedly kept in the dark about the appointment.

There is a discrepancy in the list of nominees, according to a reliable source, because the managing director, Sammy, as he is affectionately known, was originally not on the memo that President Buhari forwarded to the senate but was smuggled in. Sammy’s name was not read out by Senate President Lawan, who apparently wasn’t too sure of it.

Senator Omo-Agege of the Delta Central Senatorial District raised a point of order regarding the nomination of the NDDC Board Chairman and members, and it was reported that he criticised the lack of a representative from Delta State on the list of NDDC board nominees that President Buhari sent to the Senate, calling it an anomaly.   

The DSP continued, “By the provisions of Section 2 (1A and 1B), specifically Section 2(1B) of the NDDC Act, every State of the Niger Delta is supposed to have one member, an indigene of the State, representing the State in the board of the NDDC, as a State representative.

“Now, all of the States are represented on the list that was read out, but Delta State is not represented. Therefore, I would like to respectfully request that Mr. President reach out to the Executive arm to take the necessary action to resolve the anomaly.

As a response, Senate President Lawan said: “I have taken note and I am using this opportunity to advise the Executive arm of government that the necessary steps must be taken that every State of the Niger Delta is supposed to have one State representative because we want to screen and consider Mr. President’s request for the nominees to be confirmed.

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“In the case of Delta, there is only the Chairman; there is no State representative. We will strictly adhere to the legislation creating the NDDC. Let me also remind the Executive that getting that nomination for a State representative for Delta State is in the best interests of the Niger Delta and the entire nation. Otherwise, this will cause our Senate’s consideration of this request to be delayed.

Omo-Agege, according to sources at the red chamber, was furious about the list of nominees and was overheard saying, “I am the most senior APC leader in the South-South and ought to make input into the NDDC appointment.”

“Some of his colleagues who were unaware that he was not in charge of the nomination of Onochie or Ogboku could be heard asking, “Are you the only senator from the Niger Delta region?” they believed he had taken so much and was still requesting a Delta representative.

Omo-Agege’s outburst on the Senate floor in response to the appointment to the NDDC board was merely a ruse; he was upset because he had been schemed out. Omo-Agege as we know, will not nominate Onochie as NDDC board chairman if the position is given to Delta, particularly when she is from Delta North. He knows well enough that it is against the NDDC Act, so he cannot do that. And I can tell you for free that he was not the one who nominated Sammy. How do you expect Omo-Agege to give NDDC MD to a Bayelsa State man just because Sammy is his aide? “So he lost out in both positions, hence he was very bitter with the Senate president, who was aware of the scheme,”  one source said.

Omo-Agege had been outsmarted by the cabal in the presidency due to his domineering demeanour, according to several sources. According to a report, President Buhari’s chief of staff, Ibrahim Gambari, the attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, and Buhari’s influential and wealthy close allies, Nasir Danu, who is a well-known oil and gas business front for important members of the Buhari kitchen cabinet, are currently at odd about the alleged doctoring of the list of the proposed Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)’s members.  

African Examiner reported on the internal squabbling at the presidency after Malami learned that the list of candidates for the NDDC Board sent to the National Assembly for screening and confirmation was altered and different from the list contained in a memo he sent to President Buhari.

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According to the report, Malami was upset that the NDDC 2000 Act was not followed when selecting candidates for the NDDC Board, raising the possibility that some members of the Presidency altered the President’s original list of approved candidates.

Alhaji Danu, who was allegedly detained at Heathrow Airport in the UK in 2019 with a fake Malta passport and more than £200,000 in cash and subsequently deported to Nigeria, is thought to be the middleman in the plot to undermine the President’s approval. 

Danu is known for dropping President Buhari’s name to get huge favours from key stakeholders in the petroleum sector including the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva who is believed to have nominated Sammy, who was his former aide before becoming Omo-Agege’s boy through Jimmy.

Insiders in the presidency claimed that Danu had teamed up with Gambari and Sylva to outsmart Malami, who was allegedly insisting on doing things correctly and in accordance with the NDDC Act’s provisions.

Sources claim that despite Malami’s protests, Gambari and Danu moved quickly to ensure that the Senate started its screening and confirmation procedures. 

Sylva’s role in the game to outwit Malami was to provide logistics for the Senate Committee on NDDC and security agencies to commence the screening of the nominees.

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According to reports, Sylva used his connections with Tunde Sabiu, President Buhari’s nephew and a dependable aide, Gambari, Boss Mustapha, the secretary to the government of the federation, and Senate President Ahmad Lawan to facilitate the modification of the president’s list.

Omo-Agege was the only person who was unaware of the entire plan before it was hatched, according to BIGPEN NIGERIA (www.bigpenngr.com).

Recalls that on October 27, while on a working trip to Port Harcourt, River state, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Umana Umana, the acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, and other officials of the NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, told reporters that President Buhari had sent the names of those who would make up the NDDC’s governing board to the Senate for confirmation, but for reasons that are yet to be fathom the senate delayed the reading of the memo till November 23.

Contributed by Joe Ogbodu