Itsekiris Protest Exclusion From NDDC Board, Demand Inclusion By FG

The people of Itsekiri ethnic extraction in Delta State have raised an alarm over their exclusion into the new NDDC Board and Management team as about to be reconstituted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This alarm was contained in their protest letter weekend addressed to the President and the Senate president Senator Goodwill Akpabio and the Speaker House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, drawing their attention to as a matter of urgency to look into the issue and address it as possible to avert the anomaly in the NDDC Board .

The Itsekiri ethnic group is also urging the federal government to look at the law setting up the NDDC and correct the injustice about to take place in the Commission.

They also described exclusion of Itsekiri ethnic extraction which they stated is the highest oil & gas producing group in Delta State as oppression, marginalization, threat to National unity and legal foundation of the Nigerian state.

The protest letter over the exclusion of the Itsekiri ethnic extraction from the proposed NDDC Board about to be inaugurated was signed by Chief Robinson Ariyo, a Social Activist, Legal Practitioner, of Robinson Ariyo & Co, and a Chief of the ancient Warri Kingdom who is also the holder of the title, “Egogo of Warri Kingdom”, the Traditional Announcer of Warri Kingdom, Delta State, on behalf of the group read in parts:

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THE INCESSANT MARGINALIZATION, OPPRESSION AND DEPRIVATION OF THE PEOPLE OF ITSEKIRI ETHNIC EXTRACTION: A FORMAL PROTEST OVER THE MANIFEST SOCIAL INJUSTICE, THREAT TO NATIONAL UNITY AND THE PROMOTION OF THE PREDOMINANCE OF PERSONS FROM ONE ETHNIC OR SECTIONAL GROUP IN VIOLATION OF THE LEGAL FOUNDATION OR BASIS OF THE NIGERIAN STATE AS DEEPENED BY THE RECENT APPOINTMENT OF A NEW BOARD AND MANAGEMENT TEAM OF THE NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION, (NDDC).

We act for Chief Robinson Ariyo, a Social Activist, Legal Practitioner, of Robinson Ariyo & Co, and a Chief of the ancient Warri Kingdom; he, being the holder of the title, “Egogo of Warri Kingdom”, symbolized by the gong, meaning literarily, the Traditional Announcer of Warri Kingdom, Delta State of Nigeria, herein after in this petition also referred to as “Our Client.”

Our client informed us as follows:

That our client recently became seized of the information now in the public domain, of the proposed constitution of the new Board and Management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by His Excellency, the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

That the said information is as contained in a release issued on the 28th day of August, 2023 by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity).

That upon a careful perusal of the said publication, our client discovered that the duo of Mr. Chiedu Ebie , the proposed Chairman nominee from Delta State and Rt. Hon. Monday Igbuya, the proposed State Representative nominee from Delta State are persons whose Senatorial Districts (Delta North and Delta South respectively) have not only taken their turns in the previous appointment circles, but are persons whose communities’ quantum of oil production compared with that of our client’s is insignificant; regard being had to the express provisions, spirit and intent of Section 14 (1) & (3); 3rd Schedule Part 1 C, Paragraphs 8 (1) & (2) and 7th Schedule ( Oath of Office) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, the NDDC Act and the well-established applicable convention regarding appointment amongst the oil producing ethnic groups in Delta State; an arrangement from which the Senatorial Districts of the proposed appointees have robustly benefited since the inception of the NDDC regime.

That the following facts are worthy of isolation in the extant situation particularly with regards to the allotment of the positions as they affect Delta State:

Engr. Godwin Omene of Urhobo ethnic extraction could not complete his 4-year tenure as Managing Director (MD), of the NDDC Board; Senator Aguariavwodo Edesiri Emmanuel (another person of Urhobo ethnic extraction) was appointed to complete it. Elder P.Z. Aginighan of Ijaw ethnic extraction could not complete his 4-year tenure as Executive Director, Finance and Administration, another person of Ijaw ethnic extraction, Lambert Kobonye was appointed to complete it.

Elder Emmanuel Ogidi of Isoko ethnic extraction served as Commissioner representing Delta State in the Board and could not complete his tenure; another person of Isoko ethnic extraction Chief Solomon Ogba was appointed to complete the 4year tenure.

As reported in the Vanguard Newspaper of October 14, 2003, an Urhobo group, Niger Delta Forum petitioned the Federal Government, calling for the appointment of another Managing Director of Urhobo stock for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), when Godwin Omene proceeded “on accumulated leave”. The Itsekiris added their voices to this call. This good turn is what our client as well as all concerned persons of Itsekiri ethnic extraction are saying deserves another.

In the more recent case, in 2013, Engr. Tuoyo Omatsuli of Itsekiri ethnic extraction was appointed based on the aforesaid arrangement into the office of Executive Director, Projects (EDP) on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for a period of 4 years.

When Engr. Tuoyo Omatsuli could not complete his tenure and based on the said arrangement which is consistent with the provisions of the relevant statutes and conventions, it was expected that one in the array of qualified and suitable persons of Itsekiri ethnic extraction who were suggested for the position be nominated for the position or at the very minimum the Itsekiris be accorded the first option to produce a qualified and suitable person for the said position but this did not happen and the Itsekiris took their protest to the Federal High Court in Abuja; same was however resolved out of court with the understanding that the lopsidedness would be corrected subsequently.

Since then, the Itsekiris have been circle after circle agitating for the correction of this unjust and inequitable predominance with the emergence of His Excellency, President Ahmed Tinubu our client had high expectations that this wrong would be made right only to be woken up to the shock that again the Itsekiri are about to be excluded.

Your Excellency sir, kindly permit us to humbly invite the attention of your good offices and the red chambers to the fact that the Itserkiris account for the highest quantum of oil production in Delta State; notwithstanding that they may be a minority ethnic group, it is our humble submission that they are entitled to the protection that is anticipated in a union like the Nigerian State as conceived by the Founding Fathers of this great nation.

In humbly buttressing our case we seek in refuge and emphasize the following points with which Your Excellency’s is very much familiar for consideration:

By virtue of the long title of the NDDC Act, it is:

“An Act to provide for the repeal of the Oil Mineral Producing: Areas Commission Act 1989 and among other things establish a new Commission with a re-organized management and administrative structure for more effectiveness and for the use of the sums received from the allocation of the Federation account for tackling ecological problems which arise from the exploration of oil minerals in the Niger-Delta area, and for connected purposes”

The focus on oil production areas and communities is further accentuated by section 2 (1) (a) of the NDDC Act which with the leave of Your Excellency we reproduce below:

S. 2 (1) There is hereby established for the Commission a governing Board.

(a) person who shall be an indigene of an oil producing area to represent each of the following states …

”Form the above, there is no gainsaying that fact that the principal intention of the Act is the restoration of the areas impacted by oil exploration; which makes the areas of oil production and their inhabitants the primary target of the Act.

Section 14 (1) & (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provide:“(1) The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice. (Emphasis ours)

(3) The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”

Paragraphs 8 (1) & (2) of the 3rd Schedule Part 1 C, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provide:

“8. (1) In giving effect to the provisions of section 14(3) and (4) of this Constitution, the Commission shall have the power to:

(2) The posts mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) (a) and (b) of this paragraph shall include those of … the Federal and State parastatals”

7th Schedule (Oath of Office of the President) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provides:

“I, ………….. do solemnly swear/affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will discharge my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law”

Your Excellency sir, as constituents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria our client remains bound by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended; same being the fundamental law of our land after which all other laws like the NDDC Act was made and should be considered especially in the circumstances.

It is no doubt the aspiration of our founding fathers that in composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies like the NDDC it should be done in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need for national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of person from a few states or from a few ethnic or sectional (emphasis ours) groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.

We humbly implore Your Excellency to consider our extant petition within the perimeters of the phrases in the afore-cited provisions of the Constitution to with:

The need for national unity

To command national loyalty

Ensuring that there shall be no predominance of person from a few ethnic or sectional (emphasis ours) groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”

We therefore, humbly act on the instructions of our client to protest the incessant marginalization, oppression and deprivation of the people of Itsekiri ethnic extraction over the manifest social injustice, threat to national unity and the promotion of the predominance of persons from one ethnic or sectional group in violation of the legal foundation or basis of the Nigerian state as reflected in the recent appointment of a new Board and management team of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the circumstances of this case.

We urge upon Your Excellency to wade into this potentially volatile issue accordingly with a view to redressing the situation and restoring the confidence of our client in the Nigerian Project.

We anticipate Your Excellency’s usual swift and smooth response to issues of this nature as our client is always prepared and willing to provide any additional information that might assist the effective and effectual determination of this matter.

Yours Faithfully,Pp: Robinson Ariyo & Co. Chief Robinson Ariyo

CC:
Distinguished Honourable Abbas Tajudeen, Speaker, House of Representatives of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory.