The National Chairman, Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF), Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (Retd), says government officials have turned the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) into a cash cow to fund their elections.
He stated that officials of the Federal Government were not left out of this bazaar.
The Niger Delta elder made this known while reacting to the allegations and counter-allegations of grand corruption at the National Assembly’s hearing on the NDDC.
Nkanga noted that the people of the Niger Delta, who the intervention agenda was meant to serve, have become victims of the politicians’ greed.
He said that although the revelations were “shocking” and “embarrassing” to everyone, PANDEF had always known about the rot in NDDC, hence its November 2019 decision to support the forensic audit of the commission ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Let us have a list of all the beneficiaries of the NDDC contracts. We want to know the list of those who had secured different contracts from the NDDC, whether they are just only people who are from Niger Delta or whether there are people from other parts of the country that have benefitted.
“What transpired between the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, members of the House of Representatives, and the management of the NDDC is nothing but a show of shame.
“Allegations, and counter-allegations of corruption, this is a big shame, and very embarrassing.
“For this show of shame we are witnessing, nobody should blame people of the Niger Delta; we are just victims because politicians have turned the Niger-Delta into a cash cow, everybody that wants to contest election usually approaches whoever is the MD of the NDDC for cash support to run the election,” he told Saturday Sun.
Nkanga added, “Even the federal government is not left out of the loot, and plundering of the Niger-Delta as prominent government officials also take money from the NDDC coffers to run elections.
“We know all these looters of the Niger-Delta resources, and that’s why we are happy with the on-going investigations by the National Assembly. But the investigations should be done without fear or favour.
“But for us, I mean PANDEF, what we are insisting on is forensic auditing of the NDDC books by a reputable accounting firm so that all those involved can be exposed and shamed.
“Exposing those involved will help us to know the truth about what has been going on within the NDDC over the years.”
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