… call on Tompolo, Ateke Tom, others to wade in
ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Advocacy group, 21st Century Youths of the Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience, has boasted that it would not allow some greedy and selfish youths in the region to set the Niger Delta ablaze and scuttle the outcome of the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
The group condemned the leadership of some Ijaw groups over their alleged collusion with corrupt politicians and disgruntled stakeholders to scuttle the conclusion of the forensic audit of the NDDC.
The 21st CYNDAC, in a statement on Monday by its Coordinator, ‘General’ Izon Ebi, restated the group’s position on the conclusion of the forensic audit of the NDDC before the inauguration of a substantive board.
It argued that the sequence would enable the government and the NDDC management to uncover the huge financial malfeasance that had taken place in the commission over the years.
It, therefore, called on foremost former militant leaders such as High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, His Royal Highness King Ateke Tom, and other past leaders of the Ijaw Youth Council to intervene and save the NDDC from ethnic bigots that were bent on causing problems for the region.
The statement said: “We wish to use this medium to appeal directly to Tompolo, whose leadership ability and capacity midwived a peaceful transition to a new IYC that was before engulfed by greed and quick ways of making money to the detriment of the plight of the people of the Niger Delta, to save the region.
“We, the 21st CYNDAC, and other youth organisations are miffed by the the incessant attacks by the IYC and other organisations on the management of the NDDC and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, His Excellency, Chief Godswill Akpabio, over the constitution of a new board for the commission.
“Their continued harassment of the commission calls to question, their motive, which is very much at variance with the aims and objectives of the founders and past leadership of the the IYC.
“We hereby state categorically that the present leadership of the IYC does not represent us and other well meaning Ijaw youths.
“For an organisation that has had credible leaders such as Felix Teodolo, Asari Dokubo, Chris Ekiyor, Udengs Eradiri and Frank Umari, we cannot fathom why they are averse to the conclusion of the forensic audit. Instead, we hear of threats of shutdown of the commission and all that.
“We, therefore, call on the leadership of NDDC and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, to ignore their inane vituperations. We insist that the NDDC and Senator Godswill Akpabio should be allowed to sanitise the commission by first concluding the forensic audit before the inauguration of a substantive board for NDDC.”
The 21st CYNDAC claimed that those who were uninterested in the outcome of the forensic audit that is meant to unveil the looters of their common patrimony were rather going round soliciting funds from the same rogue elements that had looted the commission over the years.
It noted: “Even with the weighty and mind-boggling revelations of fraud and embezzlement, it is suspicious that some Ijaw youths are still insisting on a new board without the conclusion of the forensic audit with just two months to its conclusion.
“What are they planning to protest for? It shows a clear leadership failure and the guilty fighting to kill the outcome of the forensic audit. We won’t allow them to set the Niger Delta ablaze and scuttle the outcome of the forensic audit.”