NDDC Chairman: Echoes Of Lauretta Onochie As Umana Makes First Visit

The minister of Niger Delta Affairs Mr Umana Umana is set to make this first working visit to the Port-Harcourt headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC on Monday against the background of intrigues over the appointment of a new chairman for the board.

The delayed visit GWG.NG gathered was caused by the political and other disagreements between the minister and the erstwhile Sole Administrator of the NDDC, Mr Effiong Akwa.

The frosty relations were not helped by the fact that Akwa is a protegee of Senator Godswill Akpabio, the immediate past minister of Niger Delta Affairs and with whom Umana Umana are political rivals in Akwa Ibom State.

Meanwhile, the visit of the minister is coming in the wake of continuing intrigues over the appointment of a new board of the commission.

GWG.NG had reported that Mr Akwa was sacked as sole administrator of the commission after superintending over the affairs of the commission for about two years without a board.

It was gathered from normally reliable sources that the presidency may have retained the position of managing director of the commission in Bayelsa upon the claim that the state was yet to finish with its allocation as at the time that the crisis in the management of the commission started.

GWG.NG reports that based on the alphabetical basis for the rotation of chairman of the board and the production capacity for the appointment of managing director, that the two positions had earlier been proposed for Delta State. It was gathered that Adams Oshiomhole as chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC had pleaded with a powerful leader of the APC in Delta State to concede one of the positions to him for Edo State, upon which the former deputy governor of Edo State, Dr Pius Odubu had been proposed.

However, with Oshiomhole out of high reckoning, it was gathered that Timipire Sylva with his influence in the administration has been able to make the case that the stewardship of Bayelsa on the penultimate board has not expired and hence the position of Managing Director being proposed to Bayelsa.

Timi Alaibe was the last person who held the position from Bayelsa State.

Meanwhile, there are indications that two persons from Delta State may have been penciled down for the position. They are presidential aide, Ms Lauretta Onochie and the erstwhile nominee for Managing Director, Mr Ben Okumagba.

Ms Onochie, a rabid supporter of the president is being pushed for the position following her failure to get appointment as a commissioner in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

However, the proposal is bound to face serious challenge in the Niger Delta being that she is not from the core oil producing region of the state.

However, her proposal echoes well with the historical nomination of the first chairman of the NDDC board, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu who is from the non-oil producing region of Abia State.

Okumagaba according to multiple sources is the candidate of the deputy president of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege. Given his high position as the highest elected political office holder from the South-South, stakeholders expect to have his buy-in on whoever gets the prime position.

Meanwhile, the visit of Umana to the Port-Harcourt headquarters of the NDDC is coming on top of the issues over the nomination of a new chairman for the board.

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