The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended President Bola Tinubu for nominating Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, a youth, as one of his ministers- designate.
NANS also lambasted the move by a group, Niger Delta Emancipation and Justice Forum (NDEJF), accusing Ojo of diverting Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) projects and employment opportunities.
Ojo was the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
In a statement on Sunday, the NANS National Vice President (External Affairs), Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, who saluted President Tinubu for nominating Ojo as minister, also condemned the allegation against Ojo by a group.
According to the statement: “I, Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, the NANS National Vice President (External Affairs), want to sincerely appreciate the President and the Commander in Chief of Armed Forces, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for deeming it fit, for the first time in the history of Nigeria, to give the youth the opportunity to take up leadership positions in various sectors of the economy.
“This is the grace that brought our own Olubunmi Tunji Ojo in as one of the Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is laudable and I sincerely appreciate Mr. President. Now we know that you have us at heart and we know the youth shall benefit more in this administration of yours.
“We have also come to refute the claims by one dark and inconspicuous forum called the Niger Delta Emancipation and Justice Forum for wrongly accusing the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Olubunmi Tunji Ojo, of diverting NDDC projects and employment opportunities meant for oil producing communities in Ondo state to non-oil producing communities of the state.
According to the group, “NDDC establishing law stated that ‘In exercising its functions and powers, the Commission shall have regard to the varied and specific contributions of each member state of the Commission’.
“Specifically, establishing law of the NDDC provided that the production quantum of each member-state will account for the projects and employments that will accrue to the state, and bearing such provision in mind, the Governing Board of the NDDC maintained a specific sharing formula.
“According to the formula, for inter-state: regional projects (including project administration cost takes 25%; income capacity enhancement takes 5%; equality of States 25%; volume of oil according to states 35%; Opex/Capex 10%, making a total of 100%.
“We have been a staunch follower of Olubunmi Tunji Ojo for a very long time, and one good thing we can say about him is that he’s a man who believes in justice and equity. He is also a honest man that can be trusted to lead people times and times again. He is a civil gentleman with solid principles and firm discipline.
“We really appreciate the fact that he was not accused of stealing, embezzling or diverting the commission’s fund into personal account. He was only accused of diverting projects and employments that are meant for oil producing communities to non-oil producing communities, all within the same Ondo state that is meant to benefit from these projects.
“We had like these attention-seeking and clout-chasing set of individuals to take note of these three vital facts: NDDC is different from OSOPADEC. Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, OSOPADEC was established by the Laws of Ondo State CAP. 106 in 2001 to intervene in the development of the oil producing and impacted areas of Ondo State.
“While the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC is established to cater for the entire oil producing states depending on how much oil they produce per time. Hon. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo is for NDDC and not for OSOPADEC. NDDC is to cater for the entire state and not the oil producing areas of the state only. That is the way it is done. This is to show that these lowlifes are only out to dent the image of our amiable philanthropist and lover of the people;
“If these bums and pukes of a group, who are coming out for the first time in the history of the state to portray non-existing maltreatment, are aware of the number of projects that Hon. Olubunmi Tunji Ojo has brought via NDDC to Ondo state, and the distribution of same across Ondo state, they will not openly come out to humiliate themselves in broad daylight.
“The major reason the last NDDC nominee was selected from the Owo community in Ondo State is because it is not mandatory according to laid-down regulations that NDDC must be about oil producing areas.
“Their contradiction: In their tall poppy letter to the press, they claimed at first that Hon. Olubunmi distributed and spread the peojects and employments across every local government in the state and later in their claims, they accused our amiable representative, BTO of taking all the projects to the Akokos only. This is contradiction of the serving highest order from a bewildered and mystified set of miscreants hiding under the umbrella of a civil group with no atom of politeness and truth in their allegations.
“My advise to these nitwits in the name of looking for unnecessary popularity is to tell their pay masters that Olubunmi Ojo cannot be dented, following his antecedents and present executions of projects across the State.
The statement added: “We will also advise them to seek help in a rehabilitation center as soon as possible because no one in his right state of mind would cook rice and stone together and expect this combination to be consumable. We will also want to appeal to Ondo state indigenes and dwellers not to mind the poppycock spewed out in this baseless allegations as we continue to support Olubunmi Ojo in whatever capacity that we can , knowing that we are in safe hands and we’re sure that BTO will take us to the Promised Land.
“We will also want to appeal to Hon. Olubunmi Ojo, on behalf of the Nigerian Students and Ondo state dwellers and indigenes, to keep up the good work in Ondo State and intensify efforts to make sure that the people are more blessed by the day as a result of his position and philanthropy. I know that the sky is your starting point and I pray that you shall be guided and guarded always by the Almighty God”.