Timi Frank, ex-APC chieftain, wants ICPC, EFCC to probe past NDDC boards

A former deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has challenged the new management Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to prioritise the interest and development of the region.

Frank, in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, congratulated the newly installed NDDC Board and demanded the probe of activities of the immediate past sole administrator of the agency, Effiong Akwa.

Frank called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission to urgently investigate the tenures of Akwa and Audu-Ohwavborua over alleged contract deals.

The former APC chieftain also demanded that the new management should make public the report of the forensic audit of the NDDC carried out last year for the purpose of accountability and transparency.

Read also:Timi Frank tags Lai Mohammed’s statement on insecurity as irresponsible

He alleged that past managements had turned the Niger-Delta region to cash cow for a few politicians both within and outside the region.

Frank said: “I congratulate the new board and urge them to distant themselves from the predisposition of past leadership of the agency that turned the Commission to a cesspit of corruption and rendered it comatose.

“The new board must demonstrate a clean break from the sordid past of the agency by urgently making the report, findings and recommendations of the forensic audit carried out last year in the agency public.

“The exercise was carried out with tax payers’ money and all Nigerians, especially the people of the Niger Delta, deserve to know why the agency became a personal estate for a few eggheads instead of the generality of the people of the Niger Delta region.

“Let the board know that some of us are critical stakeholders in the region. Our duty is to closely monitor the activities of the Commission. If they do well, we shall commend them. But if they neglect their duty and focus on illegalities, we shall expose them.”

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