Prominent Nigerian youths under the aegis of Emerging Leaders Forum of Nigeria (ELFON) on Sunday, July 19, expressed their displeasure over what they tagged “plans to scuttle democracy in Nigeria and the fight against corruption campaign”.
At the conference held in Abuja, the group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack with immediate effect, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio and the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Professor Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei.
ELFON National President, Godstime Chukwubuikem Samuel, who addressed newsmen at the press conference, revealed the 8-point resolution of the group. They are:
1. That the Constitutional action embarked on behalf of Nigerians, by members of the National Assembly, to probe the NDDC over the Commission’s alleged financial misappropriation of our collective wealth is a welcome development. Any one against it has a “skeleton in his or her cupboard” and wants to divert public attention.
2. We are fully in support of forensic auditing of activities in NDDC. In the same vein, we encourage the National Assembly probe panel to continue with her probe measures in exposing corrupt practices in NDDC.
3. We condemn every action that tend to intimidate Members of the House Committee and the witnesses invited to give evidence before it, having the case of Joy Nunieh as a very good example.
4. How do Niger Deltans and Nigeria reconcile the report that NDDC MD Prof Podei was proud to say they used ₦10Billion to take care of themselves as palliatives. We are shocked at the nauseating courage of spending huge public funds without budget and approval and had the effrontery to tell Nigerians that they spent it to take care of themselves.
5. The scholarship funds traced to the account of one of the Executive Directors should be returned immediately. When did he become CBN? More painful is the fact that he also collected estacode for a journey never made.
Worried that a whooping sum of ₦86M was collected in pretence of attending seminars during COVID period when there were no flight operations. One wonders if he is a witch and if he did travel in the realm of the Spirit during this period. Nigerians are not fools.
6. If Senator Godswill Akpabio and his instituted Interim Management Committee of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) are confident that their hands are clean, they should make themselves available to the National Assembly probe panel rather than grandstanding and sponsoring youth groups for cheap propaganda and protest as confirmed by intelligence available to us.
7. We call on the Minister of Niger Delta to honourably step aside, otherwise we call on the President to apply the Public Service rule and suspend Senator Akpabio to give room for an unhindered Investigation by the National Assembly as in the case of Magu. There should be no selective Justice.
8 On behalf of Nigerian Youths, we commend the FG for steps taken to open Schools and to Conduct WAEC in September, and urge her to shun the call by ASUU to shut schools till 2021.
