The acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, CEO and Interim Management Committee, IMC, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Prof Kemebradikumo Pondei on Tuesday, has finally opened up on the bizarre incident at the House of Representatives, where he fainted abruptly during a probe into the spending of the organisation by lawmakers, a month ago.
Pondei, who looked stressed but back to his feet, revealed that he had an unexplainable and unforeseen health condition and was surprised people thought he was acting.
“I had an unexplained, unexpected health challenge. It is ridiculous to think that people believed I was acting.”
Pondei also added “I would not pray for anyone to experience what I went through. I do not run from issues. I have put all that behind me.”
While discussing the delay in passing the Commission’s 2019 Budget, Pondei revealed: “A minor typographical error was noticed and we asked for 10 minutes to amend the errors, but the presentation was stepped down. The National Assembly, NASS, has since gone on recess.”
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Meanwhile, Hearald.ng earlier reported that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) for backing President Muhammadu Buhari’s comment that his administration could have used the military to overrun election in opposition states in 2019.
“It is true that we lost some states as a ruling party in a developing country, which is normal. I am proud of that because we are impartial, that is why as ruling party, we lost some states. That means we have our own mistakes.
“Some of those that defeated us are sitting here. We know we are a developing country but we respect our country, otherwise, with the use of Army, the police and the rest of them, we could have overrun you.
“We just wanted to show that we are humane and we are Nigerians. We will continue to do our best,” Buhari said during a meeting with North-East governors last week.
Reacting to the president’s comment yesterday, Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, said, “Voting power is fast returning to the people and the era of stolen and procured votes is fast-fading.
“We reiterate that President Buhari’s declaration that the APC could have used the military and other security services to overrun opposition states in the 2019 general election but chose free, fair elections is a solid pointer and demonstration of our proven democratic and progressive credentials.”
He also slammed PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus for describing the president’s comment as “unfortunate”.
However, the PDP said that the attempt by the ruling party to justify the military for election comments of Buhari shows that the “APC, as a political party, is dead”.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP noted that the responsibility of a political party was to engender civic participation in a free, fair, and democratic environment, saying that the APC has brazenly violated in all our elections since 2019.
“Rather than allow President Buhari to take to corrections and leave a legacy of a truly democratic electoral process, the unelected and wobbling leadership of the APC is whining over the soaring popularity and gains achieved by the PDP under the leadership of Prince Uche Secondus as our party’s National Chairman,” the statement read in part.
The PDP said it was unfortunate that instead of joining other well-meaning Nigerians in rejecting the undemocratic comments of President Buhari, the APC, being “dead to its conscience, chose to support draconian and underhand methods of election”.
The statement further read, “Our party asserts that the APC leaders have been distraught and filled with envy and bitterness because the rebranded PDP has since overcome the temporary setback of 2015 to retake its place as the authentic hub for national rebirth; a development that led to the massive support accorded our party by Nigerians in the 2019 Presidential election.
“The PDP mocks APC leadership for living in delusion in their vacuous claims that the PDP is losing support under Prince Secondus, when it is on record that Nigerians have continued to abandon the APC and returning to the PDP enmasse, given the manifest failures of the APC and its government.
“Perhaps, the APC, in its hallucination has forgotten that it is public knowledge that under Prince Secondus, the PDP’s popularity and acceptability had soared while the APC had become a derelict, rudderless and bedeviled by bitter internal wrangling, endless backstabbing as well as incompetent, corrupt and detestable leadership.
“APC might want to be reminded that under Prince Secondus, the PDP took back the leadership of the National Assembly and went ahead in the 2019 to recover seven states from the stranglehold of the APC before the Supreme Court judgment on Imo State governorship election.
“The recent return of Edo state to the PDP is a further testament of Nigerians’ rejection of the APC and its leadership, a feat achieved under Prince Secondus.”