Samuel Ogbuku, the managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), spoke to agricultural stakeholders in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Thursday in the midst of widely shared social media rumors that he had been arrested.
Ogbuku urged the Niger Delta to look beyond oil and embrace agriculture as an engine of sustainable development during his speech at a two-day strategic meeting held in advance of an agricultural summit.
The head of the NDDC stated, “Agriculture has the potential to transform the Niger Delta’s economy and create new opportunities for growth and employment.”
Repositioning agriculture as a crucial pillar of development was the main emphasis of the meeting, which was attended by Permanent Secretaries and Commissioners of Agriculture from states in the region.
Yekini Nabena, a leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ogbuku’s ally, responded to the rumors by calling the purported arrest “false and politically motivated.”
“We woke up yesterday to see some fabricated social media reports that Dr. Sam Ogbuku was arrested,” Nabena wrote in an email to Vanguard. What’s the reason? He spoke live in Port Harcourt this morning at the ongoing agricultural summit, which was televised on two national television networks. This ought to humiliate those who propagate false information.
He emphasized that Ogbuku was still “one of the trusted and reliable hands” in President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope administration and that the NDDC leader was committed to carrying out his duties.
Following reports that Defense Headquarters agents had raided the home of former Bayelsa State governor Timipre Sylva in Abuja in connection with an alleged coup against President Tinubu’s administration, there were rumors of an arrest.
