The Wailing Women of the Niger Delta, WWND, has alleged that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, may have been classified as a special purpose vehicle by a corrupt few to bankroll the 2023 general elections.
The women wondered if allowing the Commission to be run by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation is the legacy President Muhammadu Buhari would want to bequeath to the Niger Delta people.
In a statement by their Coordinator, Odighonin Adienbo, the women said:
“We wish to ask Mr. President whether the current state of the NDDC, where it is questionably put at the behest and mercy of the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF, both jointly and severally, is a reflection of the legacy he wants to leave for the Niger Delta people.
“Mr. President should be reminded that he has about a year left to exit office and so it is curious that the NDDC may have been classified as a special purpose vehicle by a corrupt few to bankroll the 2023 general elections for self-serving purposes, while the President looks the other way.”
They said the body would name and shame suspected saboteurs who have been embezzling the allocations to the NDDC.
“We have a correspondence letter from the AGF and the Niger Delta Affairs Minister where the AGF on his part insisted that no section of the NDDC Act is in breach as per its current composition and modus operandi despite public and stakeholders outcry of treachery to the contrary.
“The Niger Delta Minister wrote to us, extricating himself by copiously accusing President Buhari of being responsible for whatever state the NDDC currently is and asking us to go to him with our demands.
“The big question is: What have the funds coming to the NDDC been used for since the illegal appointment of a life sole administrator in sheer defiance to the NDDC Act without a properly constituted board? More so as contractors are not being paid and no projects are embarked upon under the guise of forensic audit report. The current situation in the region can only be likened to a crime against humanity and we will not accept it.”, they added.