By DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE -A former Ondo State representative on the immediate past Governing Council of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Dr. Benson Enikunomehin, has faulted statement credited to Senate President David Mark alleging that individual members of the NDDC board were self-centred.

Dr. Enikunomehin who spoke in Akure, said the Senate President should not have crucified the former board for an offence allegedly committed by the management of the commission.

Mark alleged that the individuals that constituted the board made their personal interest the priority of the commission and threatened that the new board would be dissolved if they performed below expectation within the next six months.

Enikuomehinsaid: “Since no former board member of the commission was indicted by the presidential committee and the names of individuals that were involved in the scandal were mentioned in the report, the Senate President should not have made such statement because it was derogatory to our integrity and personality. The senate president should have studied critically and digested the report of the panel before making any remark on why the former board was dissolved.”

He explained that “the issue of NDDC should be looked at very holistically and not from an individual point of view.”

He argued that the former board was specifically dissolved because of the fraud allegedly perpetrated by the last management and the secret account allegedly operated by the former Managing Director in the United Kingdom branch of First Bank.

Over $20m belonging to the commission was said to have been lodged without the knowledge or approval of the board.