There is a growing dissent in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), as the Managing Director of the Commission, Mr. Samuel Ogbuku and the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. Boma Iyaye, are at each other’s throats over financial and other controversial issues.
According to impeccable sources, the MD and the EDFA have been having a running battle over who gets what and how.
The EDFA, who is the financial gatekeeper of the commission, it was learnt, had earlier confronted the MD over an allegation of denying principal officers their dues.
Investigation further showed that contractors are facing delay and frustration in the payment for jobs done due to the lingering clash of interest in matters of priority of payments.
Also, the MD is being accused of surrounding himself with cabals within the agency to cage principal officers of the Commission.
“It is sad to see all kinds of miscreants who parade themselves as Lions of the MD hanging around the premises. They don’t care about the safety and security of staff. The situation is becoming so worrisome and it is only the EDFA, Boma Iyaye, who summoned the courage to confront the MD, but the CEO simply dismissed him with a wave of the hand,” a source said.
Recall that the NDDC henchman, has been in the news for the past couple of weeks. He has been accused of lavishing a whopping N5billion on his 50th birthday on the 19th of August, an allegation his media aides vehemently denied.
Some media platforms had also reported his lavishing another staggering N55billion on celebrating the 25 years of the creation of NDDC. The alleged ostentatious celebration received wide spread condemnation, with people saying that such humongous amount could have been used on life changing projects.
The 25 years of NDDC was celebrated in Port Harcourt, the headquarters of NDDC as well as in Lagos. While the 50th birthday of the MD was celebrated in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Yenagoa, though the MD’s aides denied the report, stating that the birthday bash was sponsored by friends and associates, an excuse many described as flimsy, with many wondering why a public officer would host such degree of ceremony to mark his birthday.
Some added that even the number one citizens of the country, President Bola Tinubu and his wife, Mrs. Remi Tinubu did not display the type of ostentation and show off by Samuel Ogbuku in celebrating his birthday, a situation that incurred the condemnation of certain Ministers and key political appointees in their close quarters, who expressed worry about the propriety of the conduct by a political appointee under the Tinubu government. They argued that such a flamboyant lifestyle of a public officer is giving the Tinubu administration a negative image.
Already, many civil society groups have called on President Tinubu to look into the activities of the commission under the present leadership. The ostentatious lifestyle is not in line with the economic realities of most Nigerians, say concerned Nigerians.
