By Lanre Oloyede
Following massive outcry that trailed his rejection by the Senate last Thursday, the Ondo State Professional Forum, FCT chapter, has stated that Mr Charles Ogunmola possesses necessary qualifications to be appointed into the board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC.
The group has therefore called on the Senate to reverse its decision and confirm Mr Ogunmola as the Executive Director representing Ondo State in the NDDC board.
National Secretary of the group, Hon. Dele Fulani, in a statement issued on behalf of the association, called on the Senate particularly the senators representing Ondo state to reverse their decision and confirm Ogunmola immidiately stressing that the reason given by the senators for his rejection was based on primordial sentiment which has no touch with current reality.
Hon. Fulani maintained that the Constitution envisage oil producing area and not oil producing village, community or local government, adding that as a citizen of Ondo state, Ogunmola is qualified to be appointed as a representative of the oil producing state into the Niger Delta commission Board.
In the same vein, some former Niger Delta militants from seven states under the aegis of Niger/Delta Development Front, NDDF, have declared their support for the nomination of Mr. Ogunmola from Ondo State as the executive director of Projects at the NDDC by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The ex-agitators in a statement signed by their National Coordinator, National Secretary and National Publicity Secretary, Ovie Bobarakuie, Chief Kingsley Ebiowou and Dr. Solomon Orighomisan respectively, carpeted the three senators from Ondo State who rejected the nomination of Ogunmola during his screening at the Senate last week because there’s no oil in his community, stating that: “These senators are merely seeking cheap popularity after their earlier rejection by their constituents.”
Recall that on Thursday, the three Senators from the State had kicked against the nominee over what they described as a breach of the NDDC act.
They argued that Ogunmola is from Owo in the northern senatorial district of the State as against the oil-producing Ilaje and Ese-Odo Council Areas in the southern part of the State.
Explaining the reason for Ogunmola’s rejection, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, representing Ondo Central, disclosed that the nominee was rejected for not meeting up with the act of the NDDC.
The Senator, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Strategy, Charles Akinwon, stated that the act setting up the commission stipulated that a nominee must come from an oil-producing area.
Akinyelure maintained that Ogunmola is not from the mandate area of Ondo State where oil is being produced.
