Akwa Ibom Elders Slam FG Over Semenitari’s Appointment
The recent appointment of the former aide to Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Ibim Semenitari, by President Muhammadu Buhari as the acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission has been condemned by the Elders of Eket federal constituency in Akwa Ibom state.
According to a report by The Punch, the Akwa Ibom elders, who protested the appointed on the platform of Eket Federal Constituency Elders’ Forum in Eket on Thursday, December 23, described Bassey Dan-Abia’s replacement whose tenure was yet to elapse, as an insult on Akwa Ibom people.
In a statement by one of the elders and former Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Chief Essien Nduese, he noted that if it was necessary to relieve Abia of his duties in the commission, that it would have been much better and suitable to also replace him with somebody from the same state as the one sacked.
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Nduese stated that Abia’s sack and replacement was illegal, adding that by bringing a politician to replace the head of a four-year statutory board which was barely two years old, has political undergone.
He said: “We condemn in strong terms this barefaced slap on us; and as the largest producer of crude oil in Nigeria and having waited patiently as a state to take our turn in accordance with the statute of the NDDC Act, we believe justice demands that should a sack be warranted, then Abia should have been replaced by another indigene of the state.
“It amounts to complete illegality, bringing a politician to replace the head of a four-year statutory board which was barely two years old. Knowing President Muhammadu Buhari for who he is, we are confident that he will not allow this injustice to Akwa Ibom state to prevail.”
Further in its series of condemnations, the forum, slammed the federal government for allegedly trying to twist the hand of justice and remove the state governor, Udom Emmanuel, through court process.
Nduese said: “We have watched with dismay but not helplessly, how our brothers whom we had supported from the other senatorial districts, at their shots to the governorship seat, had resorted to grandstanding in the thinking that justice and equity must be sacrificed now to the detriment of Akwa Ibom South senatorial district.”
Expressing confidence, he added that the forum has faith in the judiciary, noting that the Supreme Court will not allow itself to bow to desperation by the All Progressives Congress-led federal government in the coursed of passing adequate judicial verdict.
Meanwhile, Semenitari, on Tuesday, December 22, said there was an emergency in the commission and that there would not be any form of rest for anyone until all work was done.
Source: Legit.ng
