The crisis rocking the Niger Delta Students’ Union Government (NIDSUG) may have taken a new dimension, following the accusation against an official of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who allegedly ‘financed’ the union president’s impeachment. EMMANUEL AHANONU reports.
The last may not have been heard of the Niger Delta Students’ Union Government (NIDSUG) crisis, which culminated into the purported impeachment of its president, Obada Akpomiemie. Four weeks after parliament members of the union allegedly removed Obada, what transpired behind the scene has started to emerge.
Some members of the union have alleged that the parliament’s members were induced to unseat the embattled president. A special assistant to the chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was alleged to have “financed” the impeachment.
To justify the impeachment, it was learnt that some members of the union executive and parliament were asked to write petition against Obada, following his rift with the NDDC official (name withheld) at the inauguration of NDDC Hostel at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) in Abia State.
The process was, however, described as “kangaroo panel” by state coordinators of the union, who said Obada remained the president. They said the Senate President, Chimdi Obiarandu, did not have the right to preside over the parliament sitting, because his election was declared inconclusive.
Obada said his disagreement with the NDDC official led to the crisis. He said: “The problem started when I complained about action of some people, who are preventing us from meeting the NDDC chairman, Sir Bassey Dan Abia. Each time we wrote to the NDDC boss, one of his Special Assistant would throw the letter into a trash bin. He has been feeding his boss with wrong information about our union.
“We saw a good platform at MOUAU to tell the NDDC boss of our plight. But, when the official sensed I would expose him, he altered the programme agenda and removed the item reserved for students’ opinion. So, we embarked on a protest to draw Dan Abia’s and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s attention to the alteration, which the Special Assistant saw as an affront and swore to deal with me.”
His opposition to NDDC’s inconsistencies, Obada said, led to the inducement of the parliament members to disorganise the union.
The co-ordinator of the union in Rivers State, Maxwell Othemidia, a final year Chemistry Education student of Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), said the impeachment of Obada was null and void, saying there was no sitting.
Asked if he was aware of the parliament members’ inducement, Maxwell said: “When you see a bird dancing at the middle of road, its drummer is close-by.”
Chimdi denied any inducement, saying Obada’s impeachment followed a petition by members of the union. He said some of the parliament members were being owed their sitting allowance, adding nobody gave them money to impeach the president.
Genesis Jeremiah, the union’s pioneer president, said NIDSUG’s problem started and ended with the union’s complaint against NDDC. He said the NDDC official met with the parliament members at LandMark Hotel five days after Obada led a protest at MOUAU to contrive the president’s impeachment.
Genesis, who claimed to be at the meeting, said: “When I barged into their secret meeting, I saw the NDDC official giving members of the parliament instructions. He was surprised to see me with others. I confronted him on why he wanted to cause crisis in the NIDSUG, he replied that members of the union were having a meeting and he decided to greet them,” Genesis said.
The Vice President, Bariture Mgbee, corroborated Chimdi’s position, saying Obada was invited to answer allegations against him but said the president did not show up.
Juliet Manyo, treasurer of the union, said: “I am ashamed of the ongoing crisis. Some so-called students’ leaders have been compromised by politicians to kill the union. I was offered a bribe but I declined, because I was not elected to destabilise the union. They are victimising Obada because he is fighting for the interest of all Niger Delta students.”
The union Clerk, Chinenye Aniogwu, a student of Delta State University (DELSU), also accused the NDDC official of intimidating the union leaders. “It is clear that they want to intimidate our members with their sudden wealth; we cannot be intimidated,” she said.
