Benson Enikuomehin is a legal practitioner and former board member of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). In this interview with OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, he explains why President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Olatokunbo Ajasin as a board member of the Commission should be rescinded. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to President Buhari’s appointment of Olatokunbo Ajasin as board member of NDDC?
The constitution of the governing board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), though very belated, is a welcome development. It is a relief to the people of the oil-producing areas of Ilaje Local Government that their representative will serve on the governing board of the NDDC as against the sole administratorship now in place.
This joy was however, short-lived when the name of one Olatokunbo Ajotunde Ajasin from Owo Local Government Area in the Northern Senatorial District of Ondo State was announced as the representative of Ondo State. The NDDC Act, 2000 that sets up the Commission makes it clear that anyone that would be chosen as a representative of any of the nine states and holds the position of Managing Director and the two Executive Directors must be indigenes of the oil-producing areas. Section 2(1) (b) of the NDDC Act, 2000 states that: ‘one person who shall be an indigene of an oil-producing area to represent each of the following member states, that is Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo State, Imo, Ondo and Rivers State.’
In the same vein, for the appointment of the Managing Director and the two Executive Directors, Section 12 (1) of the Act provides: ‘There shall be for the Commission, a Managing Director, and two Executive Directors who shall be indigenes of oil producing areas starting with the member states of the Commission with the highest production quantum of oil and shall rotate amongst member states in the order of production.’
The operative words in the two sections when considering the nomination of a state representative, the MD and the two EDs are as follows: They shall be indigenes from oil producing areas of the state. An indigene is person who is a native to the soil/land. He is an aborigine of the locality in question. His foundation and root are coterminous to the locality where he is. He is not an “imported” person to the locality.
An oil producing area, though not defined in the Act, but would mean a locality where oil exploitation that contributes to the national wealth takes place. In other words, production of oil mineral must be in the area concerned. A locality or an area cannot be called oil-producing except where the actual oil production which contributes to the economy of Nigeria is taking place.
It is on record that oil exploration and exploitation that contributes to the national economy of Nigeria is found in Ilaje Constituency 1, which is Ugbo Area in Ondo State. As of now, there is no other local government in Ondo State other than Ugbo in Ilaje where oil exploration and exploitation are being carried out. What this implies is that only the oil-producing areas in Ilaje are qualified by the provision of the NDDC Act, 2000 to produce the representative for Ondo State in the Commission.
He is not qualified to be nominated as a board member in the Commission. So, we are asking Mr. President to rescind it.
If the President refuses to accede to the demand, what is the next line of action?
There is no one that will allow his home to be vandalised and if he has a right to react, that will not react. God in His providence put this oil in that locality so that the people can use the proceeds from it to ameliorate their sufferings that nature has inbuilt into that environment. So, nature as a corrective measure, also put in this oil so that when it is exploited and used, the proceeds of it can be used to ameliorate their sufferings. To now take it away from them and give it to another place or another person will be antithetical and it will lead to a challenge within that environment. So, in order to avert this, it is needful that Mr. President should do what is right and fair to withdraw the nomination of Adetokunbo Ajasin.
No doubt, Ajasin is a notable person in Ondo State. But the law forbids him from being the representative on the Board of NDDC. The President has a million and one appointments that he can give if he knows the man as a person who can work with him, but definitely not that of the representative of Ondo State on the Board of NDDC. It is restrictive to the Ugbo people in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
And I dare say that apart from the fact that reactions will come, there is a limit to which you can contain the youth; for those of us who believe in due process, we shall not hesitate to petition the National Assembly on the matter that the individual should not be confirmed. And the person concerned, we will write to tell him that if you are told to become a king in a foreign land where you have no idea whatsoever; it is like asking somebody to come and become the king of England from Nigeria. You should rather tell yourself that I will not go there because you will be messed up. So, it behooves him to follow the path of honour and reject it. If he does not do so, we will write him, write the Senate and ultimately the matter will proceed to court as urgently as possible. We will enforce our rights. We will not waive it. Under no circumstances on planet earth will that be waived.
The federal lawmakers when enacting the NDDC Act 2000 understood this and they said the person should be an indigene of the oil-producing area. And so, it’s not negotiable. I believe Mr. President must have made this error, which can be rectified. I do hope that he will do so.
Does this imply that if the nominee is confirmed, he may not have the cooperation of people in the area?
God forbid that he should be confirmed. But assuming by error and omission it happens, it will amount to choosing a person from Akwa-Ibom to be the Sultan of Sokoto. And you now imagine what will happen in the caliphate. Where will the person stay? It won’t work. So, asking him to come and be the state representative, who is he coming to meet with?
He is from Owo Local Government Area, which is Ondo North Senatorial District. And Ilaje is Ondo South Senatorial District. You will need to pass through Ifedore Local Government, Akure North, Akure South, Idanre, Ondo East, Ondo West, Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo, Odigbo, Irele, Okitipupa, Ese-Odo and Ilaje Local Government. It’s unimaginable.
What is happening is this: like the MD of NDDC would come from an oil-producing area and somebody will now say because it is Nigeria, you now go to Borno State and bring MD to represent people in the Niger Delta. It should be an indigene of the oil-producing area. So, he won’t have a home base. In fact, he cannot go there. It is not possible. If you deploy 5million military men, they cannot stop the crisis. If you deploy the whole army of Nigeria to come to Ilaje, it will not work. The law is explicit. And if this government is a government that values the law, it should obey it.
We talk about judiciary not being timely enough in prosecuting people who are corrupt. But we don’t need judiciary for this. This is very explicit. The Vice President is a lawyer. The President has an Attorney General, he knows what to do.
So, the questions to ask Ajasin are: are you from an oil producing area? If yes, where is your local government? Are you from Ilaje? Are you from Ugbo? If he says ‘No’ how many oil companies are exploiting and exploring oil in Owo? It will not work and the government should not test the will of the people. The crisis that is already ravaging the Niger Delta region, they should not add the one of Ondo State to it.
As an APC chieftain, is this not a disservice to APC members in Ilaje Council Area?
We will not want to use that word. But we want to say if a man makes a mistake, which is pointed across to him; the truth of him being a man is for him to make a change. It’s only when you stick to it and say you are not going to change, that is when we will now begin to say this must be a disservice to the people. Those who advised Mr. President to make the appointment should be questioned the way they questioned those who padded the 2016 Budget.
So, the people who are there in the system should know that this is the pattern. I think there’s only one state in the Niger Delta where if you pick anybody from any local government, you may not be violating the law, that may likely be Bayelsa where virtually all the eight local governments are oil-producing. I’m not saying this authoritatively but I think that may be the case. For example in Delta State, you cannot go to Asaba to pick somebody because they are not an oil-producing area, the same thing in Ondo State. You cannot go to any other place apart from the Ugbo part of Ilaje. We have known Mr. President to reversing issues. When the issue of universities was raised, that the university authorities had not completed their tenure, they reversed it. So, this should be reversed in the interest of peace, justice and equity or else the challenges will become monumental. And this government is not created for crisis.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE
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