IYC, Ex-Agitators Back Court Order Against …Ask Buhari To Inaugurate Substantive Board

The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, ex-agitators and the Watchdog for Progressive Ijaw (WPI), have thrown their weight behind an order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, restraining the Prof. Keme Pondei-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) from performing the functions of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The IYC President, Peter Timothy Igbifa, described the court order as a vindication of the position of the IYC, and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately inaugurate a substantive board for the NDDC.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja granted an order restraining Pondei, Dr Cairo Ojougboh, and others from performing the functions of the board of the NDDC.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a ruling on an application by the Forum for Accountability and Good Governance, restrained them from parading themselves as board members of the commission.
Igbifa, who hailed the court action, said it was long overdue insisting that it was in line with the collective interests of the Niger Delta region.
He said the IYC had been at the forefront of agitation for the dissolution of the IMC as it believed that the composition was unknown to law and illegal.
Igbifa said the Act establishing the NDDC stipulated its modus operandi and never contemplated the deployment of an unknown committee to run its affairs.
He said the explanation that the IMC was set up to supervise the ongoing forensic audit of the commission was baseless as such function could have been performed by a substantive board.
Besides, the IYC boss said dissolving the IMC was timely as their elongated tenure came to an end this month.
He said: “We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to listen to the collective voice of the region and immediately inaugurate a substantive board for the NDDC.
“We have said it before and we are saying it for the umpteenth time that the IMC has outlived its usefulness. Such composition is illegal and against the interests of the states that make up the NDDC.
“The court order has further vindicated our position. The Presidency should stop provoking critical stakeholders in this region through some of its insensitive actions that serve only the interests a few greedy politicians.