Obaseki: Oshiomhole got NDDC board approved without Buhari’s knowledge

Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo state, says Adams Oshiomhole got top officials at the presidency to approve the composition of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board when President Muhammadu Buhari was out of the country.

Last Thursday, the president said the board of the commission, recently confirmed by the senate, will be recomposed and inaugurated at the end of a forensic audit of the agency – effectively sacking the Pius Odubu-led board.

Obaseki alleged that the APC national chairman had his cronies on the board of the NDDC and saw the agency as his cash cow.

He also said Oshiomhole compiled a list of commissioners in his living room in 2016, after he (Obaseki) was sworn in as governor.

Oshiomhole in an interview on Saturday said he nominated only one person – Mika Amanokha, his associate, as commissioner at the time, dismissing the rumour that he wanted to be a godfather in the state. 

But reacting in a statement on Sunday issued by Crusoe Osagie, the governor’s spokesperson, Obaseki accused Oshiomhole of influencing the federal government to take unconstitutional decisions. 

“We are once again forced to call the attention of members of the public to Comrade Oshiomhole’s ability to compulsively falsify the facts. The ease with which he lies, especially on issues that are public knowledge, underscores the content of his character and portends an existential threat to the survival of the APC and the impeccable integrity of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is forced to continuously engage with Comrade Oshiomhole being the national chairman of his party,” the statement read.    

“If indeed Oshiomhole appointed only Mika Amanokha to Governor Obaseki’s cabinet, why then did the former governor scream to the high heavens and embark on vitriolic media attacks against Obaseki when the governor reshuffled his cabinet, taking out some persons who were sabotaging the administration at the behest of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. In fact, Comrade Oshiomhole compiled the list of those to be appointed commissioners in Edo in his sitting room in 2016, asides picking the governor, his deputy and the SSG.

“Comrade Oshiomhole, indeed, has not kept his dishonesty and inability to abide by due process and the provisions of the constitution to his destructive activities in Edo’s political space, he has exported it to the federal level of government, placing the presidency under undue pressure leading them to take decisions that run afoul of due process and the constitution.

“A case in point is the recent incident when the President was away from the country and Comrade Oshiomhole got top officials at the presidency to approve the composition of the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), made up of his cronies apparently in violation of the existing rules.

“Uppermost on Comrade Oshiomhole’s mind was his desire to annex the NDDC and make it a slush fund from where he expected to finance the political tension in Edo State towards possibly seizing control of the Edo State Government from Governor Obaseki. He did not care whether the rules were followed nor the integrity of the people being appointed. All he wanted was to achieve his aim and keep Edo State under his stranglehold as the new godfather.”

Oshiomhole, a former governor of the state, and Obaseki have been at loggerheads over political differences.

A faction of the APC in the state had said the national chairman lacks the moral authority to lead the party and asked him to resign.