President Muhammadu Buhari is to inaugurate the new governing board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on Wednesday, according to a source at the commission.
The acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, on Tuesday morning held a valedictory meeting with the management staff to prepare for the handing over to a new management.
Mr Buhari appointed Mr Audu-Ohwavborua in October 2022 to replace the former sole administrator of the commission, Effiong Akwa, who was relieved of his appointment.
Lauretta Onochie, a known loyalist of Mr Buhari, is the new chairperson of the governing board of the commission.
Ms Onochie has been a special assistant to the president on new media, and was enmeshed in a controversial appointment into the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in 2020.
She was appointed by Mr Buhari as an INEC commissioner to represent Delta State.
The appointment generated public outcry from civic groups and opposition parties who wrote petitions, staged protests and called on the Senate to reject Ms Onochie’s appointment.
Many also described the appointment as unconstitutional – majorly because she is partisan and has openly campaigned for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Although Ms Onochie told the Senate committee on INEC that she had quit politics in 2019 and that she was no longer partisan – a claim which turned out to be false. The Senate rejected her in July.
The basis for her rejection was, however, not her partisanship. The Senate had said her appointment was rejected because “it breaches the federal character principle.” (Premium Times)
