The looters are within – Zik Gbemre
By Godwin Anene
Barely 24 hours after a three man Interim Board took charge at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) the Guest House of commission’s former Managing Director (MD) has been declared vandalised and properties looted.
Executive Director, Finance and Administration (EDFA) of the Interim Board, Ibanga Etang, disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, during a visit to the looted Guest House and other facility of the commission.
Etang had, after inspecting the level of looting and damage done to the facility said, “We discovered something here that requires attention and that is why we are here with security personnel. You can see the property has been vandalized and a lot of the items have been taken away.
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“Anybody or group of persons who have organized themselves to cart away NDDC property should stop and the ones that have been taken must be returned because the commission will stop at nothing to ensure that those properties are returned”
He said the new caretaker board was notified of the vandalism, declaring that culprits would be handed over to the security agencies while also warning those with intentions to illegally remove the commission’s properties should desist “or be prepared to face the law”
Disappointment at the development, the Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC), a right group, described Etang’s outcry as pretentious self mockery by the interim board and the commission at large.
National Coordinator of NDPC, Zik Gbemre said, “It is self mockery for NDDC to say an MD’s Guest House was broken into and looted and for the new caretakers to be patronising the looters by pretentious warning as if they don’t know the culprits.
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“NDDC burns hundreds of millions of naira on security every year, including keeping bloated army and police details who guard the board members and their families even to their bedrooms. How can Etang or anyone else say they don’t know those looted the MD’s Guest House barely 24 hours after they took over.
“The vandals and looters are not faceless. They are within the NDDC. The common practice is that official residences of political officeholders often get looted when they vacate office. NDDC can’t say they don’t know the looters of the MD’s guest house that is under heavy security watch. It’s a shameful self mockery for the new caretakers to pretend they don’t know the looters.”
