MUAZU IS NEW NPC BOSS, EWA-HENSHAW HEADS NDDC

• Senate clears Atako of contract scam 
• Group petitions Jonathan over Edo nominee
PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has appointed former Bauchi State governor, Ahmadu Adamu Muazu, as chairman of the National Pensions Commission (NPC).
He has also appointed Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and Bassey Dan-Abia (Akwa-Ibom) as chairman and managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) respectively.
The development came as the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on the NDDC cleared the acting Managing Director, Dr. Christie Atako, of alleged fraud in award of contracts.
In four separate letters read to senators at the commencement of Senate session Wednesday by its President, David Mark, Jonathan also asked the Upper Legislative Chamber to confirm former Edo State governor, Prof. Osarheimen Osunbor, as chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission just as he asked that M’fon Akpan be confirmed as the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The President also nominated four other persons to serve as full-time commissioners in the National Pensions Commission. They are Chinelo Anohu-Amazu (South-East), Omotowa Reuben Gilbert (North-Central), Mohammed Ka’oje Abubakar (North-West) and Adesojo Olaoba-Efuntayo (South-West).
He also nominated Itotenaan Henry Ogiri (Rivers State) to be confirmed as executive director (Finance and Administration) in the NDDC, just as Tuoyo Omatsulu (Delta State) was nominated to serve as executive director in charge of projects.
Eleven other persons were nominated as states’ representatives.
A group, under the aegis of NDDC contractors’ association based in Niger Delta, had last week petitioned President Jonathan, the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the House of Representatives over alleged award of billions of naira contracts by the acting managing director to her family’s company, among others.
Chairman of the committee, Mutu Nicholas, said in Port Harcourt yesterday that its preliminary investigation shows no truth in the allegation, adding that the “petitioner is faceless and the petition is senseless. We want to appeal to the acting MD to continue with the good works she is doing in the commission”.
The Deputy Chairman of the committee, Mohammed Garba, said since there is no group with the name NDDC contractors’ association, then “the petition is baseless and the issues raised are misleading.”
Atako said the petition was a deliberate attempt to blackmail her and drag her name in the mud.
Meanwhile, there is crisis in Edo South Senatorial District over a nominee, Peter Enogieru, from the senator representing the zone, Ehigie Uzamere, presented to the Presidency as a possible commissioner in the Board of the NDDC.
Uzamere’s nomination is believed to be different from the preferred candidate of Governor Adams Oshiomhole while the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also forwarded three nominees for the same position.
Some of the aggrieved stakeholders, under the aegis of Coalition of Civil Society, through their counsel, Mathew Edaghese, said Uzamere lacked the moral capacity to nominate somebody into the Board of the NDDC, urging President Jonathan to reject his nomination.
Source: Guardian