Ogonis at home and abroad are still celebrating the appointment of Dr. Joi Nunieh as the new Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Nunieh who arrived the State capital last week to resume duty at the Commission received a hero’s welcome at the Port Harcourt International Airport.
She was met at the VIP wing by a large delegation of Ogonis and political associates who stormed the airport to celebrate with their own.
Groups like Kagote, MOSOP, Ken Saro Wiwa Associates, as well as some frontline Ogoni leaders have been reacting.
Kagote’s leader, Lagborsi Pyagbara in his reaction expressed happiness over the appointment, saying the country’s leadership had demonstrated exceptional love for the Ogoni people.
The former Senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial zone, Sen. Magnus Ngei Abe commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the appointment.
Sen. Abe said: “We have confidence in Dr. Joi Nunieh because she has the intelligence, capacity, and commitment to lay a new foundation for the NDDC if she is given the needed support”.
He called on all stakeholders to support Dr. Nunieh and the new Interim Management Committee in its bid to reposition the commission.
Through out Ogoniland, there are widespread celebrations despite conflicting reports emanating from different quarters.
Recall that shortly after Nunieh was sworn in, the Senate screened members of the substantive board whose names were initially released.
Somehow, Nunieh according to reports, did not attend the Senate screening.
It is also doubtful that after serving as Acting Managing Director, the female lawyer would take up the appointment as Rivers rep at the commission.
Joi began her climb to the top when Ken Saro Wiwa put the Ogonis together under the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People.
Years later she linked up with President Muhammadu Buhari and later became a staunch member of the CPC.
Thereafter, Joi followed the President into the All Progressives Congress, APC, the platform on which he won the presidential race for the first time.
She would later join the Accord Party which was little known in Rivers State when her preferred candidate for the party’s governorship race failed to scale through.
In spite of the Senate’s screening of board members purportedly forwarded to it, Joi remains entrenched at the NDDC.
Officially, Dr Akwagaga Enyia who was acting before the new appointment was announced has handed over to the new Acting Managing Director.
The hand over took place at the Commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, October 31, 2019.
The excitement among the Ogonis is so much that they now refer to Joi as the “Esther of Ogoniland.”