The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, may have pushed for the removal of Joy Nunieh as the acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Mr Akpabio’s ministry supervises the NDDC.

Sources close to both Mr Akpabio and Ms Nunieh said the relationship between the two became rancorous lately to a point that the former NDDC chief refused to pick the minister’s phone calls.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday named Kemebradikumo Pondei, a professor of medicine, as a replacement for Ms Nunieh.

Mr Pondei is to serve as acting managing director of the troubled NDDC until the completion of a planned forensic audit.

Besides Cairo Ojougboh and Ibanga Etang who remain the acting director, projects, and the acting director, finance and administration respectively, Mr Buhari has expanded the interim management committee to include a former vice president of African Development Bank, Cecilia Akintomide, and one Caroline Nagbo as members.

Mr Akpabio’s relationship with the sacked NDDC chief was fraught with mutual suspicion and powerplay, according to people familiar with the matter.

“The expected cooperation was not there (between the ministry and the NDDC),” a source close to Mr Akpabio told