By Emma Amaize
Niger Delta activist and lawyer, Mr Eric Omare, on Thursday, said he was not shocked at President Muhammadu Buhari’s endorsement of the Interim Management Committee, IMC, of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, saying, “he (Buhari) is a serial violator of the rule of law and known for his disrespect for other arms of government.”
Omare, also head of corresponding Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, said, “I repeat my earlier position that the NDDC Interim Management Committee is illegal and it remains so irrespective of President Buhari’s latest directive.”
“President Buhari’s endorsement of the IMC in the present circumstances further reinforces his disrespect for the rule of law for which his government is known for.
On the reconstitution of the board, I think President Buhari’s administration has scored another goal in absurdity and illegality because I have not seen a situation such as this where a board that was nominated by Mr President and confirmed by the Senate is technically dissolved and to be reconstituted without inauguration.
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“What this shows is President Buhari’s disrespect for the Legislature and the Nigerian people, especially taken into account the fact that he did not even offer any reason for the technical dissolution.
“Does he expect or will the Nigerian Senate confirm another set of nominees by President Buhari into the NDDC Board when he disregarded the earlier ones he nominated and confirmed by the Senate?
Will the Nigerian Senate now attend to the budget of the NDDC with the IMC in charge? Or as usual with the Buhari administration, will the NDDC operate without a budget and board in flagrant violation of the NDDC Act?
“I see the IMC being in charge of the NDDC for years without a board in violation of the NDDC Act. This is what they wanted from the beginning. These are the crucial issues going forward and it is the biggest test of the independence of the Dr Ahmed Lawal- led National Assembly”, he stated.
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