Urhobo Youth Leaders Council (UYLC) has asked the Federal High Court Warri to declare the appointment of a sole administrator for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) declared as illegal.

UYLC, is a body of leaders of youth groups in Urhobo land, a major oil and gas producing ethnic group in Delta and Bayelsa States.

According to the body, they wants the court to declare the appointment of Effiong Okon Akwa as NDDC sole administrator as null and void.

They claim that the appointment was not made in accordance with the NDDC Act which provides that the management of the Commission has to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the National Assembly.

The defendants in the suit includes the Federal Government, the Attorney General of the Federation, the NDDC, Effiong Okon Akwa; and the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio. The case was filed before the Federal High Court on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

The President of UYLC, Comrade Lucky Emonefe in a statement said the action was instituted to protect the integrity of the NDDC.

Emonefe said; “We are seeking an order of the court restraining the defendants, their agents, administrators, privies and/or servants as well as the general public from recognising Mr Effiong Okon Akwa as sole administrator of the NDDC.

“Our decision to approach the court was born out of the genuine desire of all Urhobo youths to demand a substantive board that will facilitate development in the Niger Delta region because we see the appointment as an aberration and deviating from the aims for which the commission was established.”

“The case instituted by the Urhobo Youth Leaders group is one of several by Niger Deltans challenging the imposition of the sole administrator on the NDDC after an equally illegal Interim Management Committee which was appointed by the federal government was challenged in the court,” Emonefe said.

https://veednews.com/urhobo-youths-sue-fg-ask-for-the-sack-of-nddc-sole-administrator/

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