•Managing Director NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku
There is a high suspicion that some persons believed to be political foes of the managing director of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, have initiated a media campaign aimed at rubbishing the commission’s chief executive officer in the eyes of right thinking members of the public, says the Niger Delta Progressive Youths Forum (NDPYF).
This is coming at a time that Ogbuku has been receiving accolades for leading what has generally been described as the most vibrant and service oriented commission, in decades, reports Daily Independent.
The group was reacting to some online media publications, ostensibly syndicated, to the effect that Ogbuku was funding an imaginary presidential ambition of Dr Goouck Jonathan, ahead of the 2027 race.
In the said reports which has been reproduced almost verbatim in some strange news platforms, sponsors of the publication claimed that Ogbuku made the NDDC to buy a property belonging to Jonathan, for use as its Yenagoa office, as a way of empowering the former president to run against the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The group said in a statement yesterday by its president-general, Dr Theo Isidore, that “the publication is clearly the handwork of haters who are thinking of how to rubbish the MD in the eyes of the president.
“The fake news which has been in circulation in some media platforms is clearly generated by one man or a group of persons whose wishful thinking is to sow a seed of discord and perhaps distract Ogbuku from doing the excellent work he is doing in the Niger Delta.
“The reports attempt to sit the truth on its head. In the first place, Dr Jonathan has never indicated any interest in running any election in the near future. In fact, his wife, Dr Patience Jonathan recently confirmed this when she said her husband would not contest any election, hence her decision to rally Tinubu’s wife and all progressive minded Nigerians, to secure victory for Tinubu in 2027.
“Also, we are not aware that Dr Ogbuku has told anybody that he is planning to contest any election now or in the near future. He has repeatedly said that his primary objective is to give expression to President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda, from the NDDC perspective.
“Besides, we can confirm, as stakeholders in this region, that the property which now houses the NDDC in Yenagoa does not belong to the former president.”
Isidore who described the news report as a poorly conceived and lazily crafted weapon of destruction said if the authors wanted people to take them seriously, they would have shown their identity and properly cross checked their facts as required by journalism ethos.
“One thing is clear in all the syndicated reports- the writers’ identities are not known, neither did they speak with anyone in or around the NDDC, before going to town with their false narratives.
“It is curious that the same information is being published and circulated with the speed of light on various blogs and news sites, with a similar narrative.
“We see this as a calculated attempt by some persons who are clearly jealous of the records breaking achievements of Dr Ogbuku and are therefore bent on bringing him down. But they have missed it.”
The youths group urged security agencies to investigate and apprehend all those behind the fake news, with a view to putting an end to such destructive activities.
They also passed a vote of confidence of Ogbuku, saying the NDDC and the Niger Delta people have not had it so good for decades, even as they urged everyone to ignore the publications.
