Pressure mounts on Buhari over NDDC board dissolution

President Mohammadu Buhari has come under increasing pressure to honour the Federal Ministry of Justice’s guideline on the longevity of the Boards by recalling the dissolved Board members of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

The Governing Board which was established in 2000 through an Act of Parliament is made up of 19 members with four fifth members of the Board and Management from the nine oil -producing states. It was inaugurated by former President Goodluck Jonathan on December 16, 2013, following confirmation by the National Assembly.

President Buhari had in a circular issued through the Head of Service of the  Federation, dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2, directed that all boards of Parastatals be dissolved.

Concerned stakeholders who commented on the matter believed that the directive was carried out by the President without following the guidelines under which the board was set up. According to them, the President took the decision in a hurry without regards to the terms of the board as contained in the Constitution.

While the present Board is expected to complete its statutory four- year tenure on December 15, 2017, the members have challenged their dismissal on the ground that President Buhari did not follow due process in their dismissal.

The members have, however, asked the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, to declare that President Buhari has no powers to sack them as their appointments are governed by statutes for a fixed period of time, which is yet to expire.

The Sen. Bassey Ewa-Henshaw- led Board, through their counsel, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Lagos lawyer and activist, had contested the legitimacy of the directive which, according to him, was wrongly applied to the Corporation.

Adegboruwa, however, urged the court to, “Declare that the letters respectively, are ultra vires, ineffective and ineffectual to grant the dissolution of the 4th Governing Board of the NDDC and the same as invalid, null and void and of no effect whatsoever, in so far as they relate to the dissolution of the said Governing Board.

He said, “By virtue of the NDDC Establishment Act, the Governing Board of the commission cannot be dissolved, either through the letters dated July 16, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.19/S.81/XIX/964 and July 23, 2015, Ref. No. SGF.55/S.2, respectively, or in any other manner that constitutes a violation of sections 2,3,5 and other extant provisions of the said NDDC Act.”

The rights activist disclosed that by virtue of section 6 (6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, once parties have submitted their dispute before a competent court, none of them is allowed to resort to self-help or to take any step that may jeopardize the due hearing of the matter on its merit.

According to him, President Buhari acted in error in his dissolution of the Board of the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC. He said, “By virtue of section 3 of the NDDC Establishment Act, a member of the Board, other than an ex-officio member, shall hold office for a term of four years at the first instance and may be re-appointed for a further term of four years and no more.

“The NDDC Establishment Act makes no provision for the removal of the Commission’s Board members before the expiration of the four year tenure, except the member resigns, is of unsound mind, is convicted by a court or is disciplined by his professional association or is found guilty of misconduct.

None of these is applicable in this case. Consequently, the dissolution of the NDDC Governing Board is illegal and violates the clear provisions of section 5 of the NDDC Act.

“It is important to state that the NDDC Governing Board is in the same category of those agencies established under section 153 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, whose tenure enjoy statutory flavour. It cannot be dissolved by a general circular, without complying with the provisions of the enabling Act.”

“Consequently, we appeal to the President, to examine the facts as they affect the NDDC and graciously direct the immediate re-instatement of the Commission’s Board, as he has done with the boards of other agencies referred to above.”

In his reaction to the action of the President, a former Senate Chief Whip, Senator Roland Owie, also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take guidance from the Federal Ministry of Justice on the longevity of the Board of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

Senator Owie, noted that the Board of the commission cannot be dissolved midstream. He also added that the commission had become a statutory body having been established by an Act of Parliament.

According to him, “NDDC can’t be dissolved by a presidential fiat. The NDDC is a commission that was not listed in the 1999 Constitution. This is because it was established by an act of Parliament by the Fourth National Assembly in 2000.”

Efforts to get the position of the President on this matter however proved abortive as call made and messages sent to the Mr. Femi Adeshina, was not honoured at the period of going to press.

Meanwhile Mr. Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, had earlier disclosed that the General Service Officer, GSO, in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF would give a clarification on the issue to the President.