NDDC board: Akpabio at crossroads as Tompolo, others insist on ultimatum

Several efforts by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio to prevail on a former dreaded militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo, to withdraw his ultimatum for the inauguration of a board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has hit a brick wall.

Akpabio, it was gathered sent emissaries led by a former IYC President and Special Assistant on Youth Matters to NDDC Sole Administrator, Udengs Eradiri, to Tompolo’s representatives in Warri, Delta State, to prevail on the former warlord to withdraw his deadline.

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Tompolo was said to have informed them through his representatives that it was too late to retract the ultimatum and urged them to tell the minister to do the right thing.

It would be recalled that Tompolo recently warned of consequences if after seven days beginning from May 30th, Akpabio and the Federal Government failed to inaugurate the substantive board for the commission.

Various militant groups had backed Tompolo by issuing similar deadlines and vowing to cripple all oil installations in the region at the expiration of the ultimatum.

At the Ijaw House in Yenagoa, Igbifa and members of his executive committee were said to be holding meetings with the leadership of the INC.

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Emerging from the first meeting, which was held on Tuesday, Igbifa said all stakeholders in the region including the governors and senators believed in the inauguration of the board.

On his purported suspension by the IYC Eastern Zone, Igbifa said it was an exercise in futility as persons behind the action were not council members.

The Founder, Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative (CQTI), Obiaruko Ndukwe, backed the call for the inauguration of the NDDC board describing it as commendable.

She said they were, however, aversed to the seven-day ultimatum issued to President Muhammadu Buhari by Tompolo to reconstitute the board or “risk a total breakdown of law and order that will equally affect crude oil exploration and exploitation activities in the region.”

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She also argued that using the ongoing forensic audit to delay the board’s inauguration was no longer tenable as the auditors already had required materials to do their work.

But the Movement for the Survival of Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND) called on Buhari to sack Akpabio saying that the people of the region no longer had confidence in his ability to man the ministry.