A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Niger State and Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Dr. Mohammed Santuraki, has decried what he described as a “glaring imbalance” in the newly constituted Board and Executive Management of the North Central Development Commission.

This is as some Abuja indigenes also rejected the nomination of Solomon Adodo as the Federal Capital Territory representative on the Commission, describing it as “a bare-faced robbery of the statutory rights and privileges of FCT indigenes.”

Their criticism comes on the heels of President Bola Tinubu’s submission of nominees for the boards of the newly established North-Central, South-West, and South-South Development Commissions to the senate for screening and confirmation on Thursday.

Of the 19 positions proposed for the NCDC, only one Non-Executive Director and one Executive Director slot were allocated to Niger State, a development Santuraki said did not reflect the state’s electoral significance and political sacrifices.

“Niger State delivered over 375,000 votes for President Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election, the highest in the North-Central zone and sixth highest nationally,” Santuraki said in a statement issued on Saturday.

He noted that the state had initially vied for the location of the NCDC headquarters but later stepped down for Nasarawa State in the interest of regional unity.

In exchange, he said the state expected to be compensated with either the chairmanship or the Managing Director position—both of which ultimately went to other states.

“It is disappointing and unjust that Niger State, after making such sacrifices, has been left out of the Commission’s top leadership. Both principal positions and the headquarters are now concentrated in the Benue-Plateau-Nasarawa axis, excluding the Niger-Kogi-Kwara-FCT bloc,” he stated.

Similarly, Abuja indigenes, under the aegis of the FCT Stakeholders Assembly, stated in a statement by its President, Dr. Aliyu Kwali, that Adodo is from Benue State and not a native of the FCT.

He said Adodo’s appointment was illegitimate under the North Central Development Commission (Establishment) Act, 2024.

“Our attention has been drawn to a list currently before the National Assembly, in which the FCT was allotted only one seat. This seat has been filled by someone who is not an indigene of the FCT, thereby disenfranchising the original inhabitants,” Kwali said.

He demanded the replacement of Adodo with a qualified FCT indigene, citing Section 2(2)(a) of the Act, which they argue mandates fair and accurate representation of constituent areas.

According to him, Benue State received three appointments, including the chairmanship, one Executive Director, and one member, adding that Plateau and Kogi states were allotted two seats each, while Nasarawa, Kwara, and Niger states received one seat each.