Onuesoke, who spoke against the backdrop of the swelling opposition against Ifeanyi-Onochie’s nomination, those opposed to her appointment, said Onochie, being an indigene of an oil-producing state makes her extremely qualified to be Chairman of the Board.
While congratulating Onochie on her deserved appointment, Onuesoke averred that the appointment of NDDC chairman isn’t exclusive to a direct indigene of an oil-producing area.
“Taken together, the appointment of the Chairman under the Act is not tied to an indigene of an OIL Producing Area/Community, it is rather tied to states, and the President has the prerogative of choosing whom he wants from Delta State and Lauretta Onochie is his choice and in this case, a square peg in a square hole.
“You cannot import into the Act what it is not, therefore, Section 2 (1b) is inapplicable to the appointment of the Chairman,” he posited.
Onuesoke recounted that he watched absent-mindedly the Arise TV interview where the position of the Act on the President’s nomination. Lauretta Onochie was described as unlawful, stressing that such a position is a misunderstanding of the Act regarding the said nomination.
“First, Section 2(1a) has the Chairman of the board standing on its own, while Section 2 (1b) stands alone, since both are not used conjunctively, they must be read as such.
“Second, Section 2(3) defines who is a member as stated in Section 2b (i-f), once again the Chairman is not defined along with the members.
“Third, Section 4 mentioned the office of the Chairman on the basis of States and not on the basis of an INDIGENE of Oil Producing area or community.
“Fourthly, Section 2, subsection 2 states that: “the president shall appoint chairman and other members” again, the Chairman is separated from members as defined in 2 (1b)(i -f),” he stated.
He urged Deltans to be grateful that the appointment was given to their own person and not someone from another oil-producing state like Bayelsa, Rivers and Ondo states, among others.