Nsima Ekere, NDDC Board Sacked On Allegations of Fraud

Adebola Oladimeji

The Presidency on Friday 25th January,2019 sacked the board and management of the Niger Delta Development Commission and in its place, appointed Prof. Nelson Braimbraifa as the Acting MD, while Mr. Chris Amadi and Engr. Samuel Adjogbe are to serve in acting capacity as Executive Directors of Finance &Admin and Projects respectively.

It will be recalled that weeks ago, contractors and other citizens protested against the Nsima Ekere-led commission accusing them of receiving bribes, favouritism, underhand dealings and large scale fraud. A similar protest was held on the 23rd January, 2019 in Abuja, wherein the protesters demanded among other things, the sack of the MD and the board.

Mr Ekere was last year nominated as the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State and we learnt from reliable sources that, he was set to resign on 30th January, 2019, in compliance with the Electoral Act which stipulates that a candidate must resign an appointment at least 30 days before the date of the election into the office he is seeking.

Ekere, we learnt was taken by surprise, when rumors of his sack filtered in. He made frantic calls to his sources within the Villa and got confirmation of the veracity of the news.

It will be further recalled that just last week, Mr. Ekere was quoted as assuring his party faithful that he will not spend an additional day in office and that his replacement will come from his area.With the dissolution, the APC family seem to have been thrown into confusion.

Efforts made to reach Mr. Ekere’s media assistant, Mr Inem Ina and his spokesperson, Eseme Eyiboh were not answered.