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Following the resolution of Council of Traditional Rulers in Bayelsa State, that it was the turn of Bayelsa to produce the next Managing Director for Niger Delta Development Commission, NNDC, top All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftains from South-South zone are battling to control who heads the agency saddled with interventionist projects for oil-producing areas.

It would be recalled that speaking at the kick-off of a two-day management retreat organised by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs in Abuja last week, President Muhammadu Buhari hinted that the much-awaited board of directors for the commission would be appointed soon, in apparent response to popular agitation from stakeholders.

The president’s assurance came after a statement by Edwin Clark, the leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, expressing misgivings over speculations that the government might again extend the tenure of the agency’s Interim Management Board that has been piloting its affairs since 2019.

A former minister, Godswill Akpabio, as well as the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, and a former governor in the South South are understood to be engaged in fierce jostling to influence the appointment of a new Managing Director and the strategic Finance Director for the body, which has been run by a caretaker since 2019. Also deeply involved in the high-stake game is Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.

Incidentally, the former South South governor is said to be leveraging his access to Presidencyto get his nominee appointed as Managing Director of the agency.

Akpabio, on the other hand, is said to be rooting for Denyabofa Dimaro, who also reportedly enjoys the backing of Umana Umana, the new Niger Delta Minister.

Meanwhile, Sylva is reportedly pushing for Maxwell Oko, his Bayelsa kinsman.

On the other hand Omo-Agege is said to be unrelenting in his bid to influence the emergence of Sam Mgbuku.