Human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, has criticised the Senate Committee on the South East Development Commission, SEDC, over its move to summon the leadership of the Commission for an oversight session on its finances, projects and operations.
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The Senate Committee, chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, had reportedly fixed June 9, 2026, for the SEDC leadership, including its Board, Executive Directors and key management staff, to appear before it and provide documents relating to its operations, expenditure, procurement records, staff details, audited accounts, budget performance and project implementation.
The committee said the session was part of its constitutional oversight responsibility to examine the Commission’s financial management, policies, programmes, administrative activities and overall performance since inception.
However, reacting in a post on X, Odinkalu accused the committee of harassing the Commission under what he described as the “false pretence of oversight.”
He alleged that the move was politically motivated and intended to turn the Commission into a tool for election funding and media blackmail.
According to Odinkalu, “It is election season and @OUKtweets wants the Commission to fund his election-rigging piggy bank. So, he is harassing the Commission under the false pretence of oversight.”
Odinkalu also faulted the committee’s demand for audited accounts and audit reports, arguing that the SEDC was inaugurated only in February 2025 and had not yet undergone the statutory audit process by the Auditor-General.
He said the Commission received no promised funds for the first nine months of its existence and had, to date, received no capital expenditure allocation.
“The SEDC was inaugurated Feb 2025. For the first nine months, it received absolutely nothing in terms of promised funds. To date, the Commission has received zero Naira of Capex,” he wrote.
He added that the Commission only received a take-off grant of N5 million in December 2025, saying much of the information was already in the public domain.
Odinkalu questioned why the committee was demanding extensive records from the Commission while allegedly showing no interest in how much the committee itself had received or when such funds were released.
He said, “It is interesting that @OUKtweets is asking for hard and soft copies of the entrails of the SEDC. But they are not interested in how much the Committee has received or when.”
The rights lawyer further accused the Senate committee of attempting to expose the Commission to public ridicule and blackmail through media pressure.
He said, “And the way this reads, he has arranged to put this into the media in order to set the Commission up for blackmail.”
Odinkalu also referred to Kalu’s past conviction, describing him as unfit to chair a committee of such significance. However, Kalu’s 2019 conviction was later nullified by the Supreme Court in 2020, which ordered a retrial after holding that the trial was wrongly conducted because the judge who delivered the judgment had already been elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Kalu had earlier, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on SEDC, warned the Commission against misuse of funds and urged it not to repeat the failures associated with some other development agencies. Reports also showed that the committee had previously exercised oversight over the Commission’s 2026 budget proposal.
The latest controversy comes amid growing public interest in the activities of the SEDC, its funding status and its ability to deliver development and infrastructure renewal across the South-East.
While the Senate committee insists that its planned engagement is part of legislative oversight, Odinkalu maintained that the process, as framed, appears targeted and politically motivated rather than designed to strengthen the Commission.
He called for accountability in public life and repeated his campaign slogan: “Retire OUK.”
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