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By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
Elders, youth groups and stakeholders from the Niger Delta region have urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Umana O. Umana, to “immediately suspend or sack the interim administrator of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Effiong Akwa,” over allegations of “using a third party to file frivolous lawsuits against the Federal Government in order to keep him in office until May 2023.”
According to the group, Mr. Effiong Akwa, “who’s interim tenure had long expired, as he has been operating the coffers of the NDDC without any recent presidential tenure extension, and his status as an interim administrator is unknown to the NDDC establishment act,” had on Friday, August 19, 2022, allegedly dragged the Federal Government to a federal High Court, in Abuja, “using a third party to restrain the Federal Government.”
The Niger Delta Stakeholders, through its secretary-general, Chief Anthony Loveday, in a statement via electronic mail, accused Mr. Effiong Akwa of “using a third party to file lawsuits and injunctions in the Federal High Court, Abuja judicial division to restrain the Federal Government; a ploy to keep him in office until 2023.”
The suit was filed against the “President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Honourable Attorney General and Minister for Justice, the Honourable Minister, Niger Delta Affairs, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.”
In his statement, Chief Loveday said, “Mr. Akwa through his allies have filed a case, and they plan to serve all defendants including the presidency on Monday the 22nd August 2022 or latest on Tuesday the 23rd August. They intend to use the court’s injunctions to tie-down the hands of the President and the Minister of Niger Delta to frustrate them into resolving to manage Akwa as interim administrator until May 2023.
“They have some high profile allies in the Ministry of Justice that will direct the ministry lawyers to stall and sabotage the cases by employing delay tactics and adjournments until May 2023. However, during this period of judicial intervention, no substantive NDDC board can be appointed and inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari until the courts are done with their cases, because the status-quo must be maintained.
“This is devastating for the suffering people in the Niger Delta region. These politicians are only thinking of their personal interest and how to remain in office by any means necessary, they are not thinking about the people. In-fact, Mr. Akwa and his allies in the Ministry of Justice might file more court cases in other federal high courts to completely tie-down the hands of the minister to enable him to remain in office until May 2023,” the statement reads.