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The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has accused the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of doling out N10bn to stop his reelection in 2019, insisting the ongoing probe of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the commission should be expanded to involve activities of previous managements.
Speaking at a live television interview, Wike said though he was not in a position to suggest to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) how to run the commission, but, the existing approach of involving politicians in the affairs of NDDC would continue to be counterproductive.
The governor made it clear that politicians must stay away from the NDDC noting that only technocrats should be used to manage the commission to enable it live up to its mandate of developing the Niger Delta region.
According to him: “I have said before and it is very clear, my concern is, everyone knows that the NDDC was set up for the development of the region.
“Unfortunately, they have turned it into a different thing. NDDC is a cash cow for politicians.
“When they are talking about probing the IMC, I said why only the IMC? What about the other guy, Prof. Brambaifa, and the rest of them. In my own election, NDDC brought N10bn cash to fight against us. They haven’t invited us.”
He explained that the system or method whereby NDDC embarks on project execution in a state without consulting with the Governor of the state is very faulty. And that it made him took them to court on the need to consult with the state government before executing its projects.
Wike said the government won its court case against the NDDC with a judgment that the NDDC must consult the state government before embarking on any project in Rivers.
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