A coalition of former agitators under the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, have threatened to occupy the amnesty office to demand the immediate sack of the interim Administrator of the Programme, Maj-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (retd), over non-payment of six months’ allowances.
The group, comprising of the first, second and third phase of PAP, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to remove Ndiomu and replace him with someone with vast knowledge of the sole aim of the programme and not those who enrich themselves at the expense of the Niger-Delta region.
In a communique signed by Gen. Paul Johnson, and Solomon Adu, Chairmen, Phase 2, Bayelsa and Delta State, and issued to Newsmen after a meeting with ex-agitators across the region on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, they said the sack was necessary due to his inability to pilot the affairs of the scheme with sincerity of purpose, rather creating division that could jeopardize the peace of the region.
They accused him of delisting names of real beneficiaries of the programme and blatantly refusing to pay the stipend of over 7,000 delegates going to over six months without any reasonable claims.
The said “Ndiomu has shown himself as an enemy of the Niger-Delta, he has succeeded in causing division among our people with the sole aim to divide and rule. Instead of paying us our stipends, he rather prefers using our monies to get cheap publicity from few notable stakeholders in the region”
“In a recent publication in an online media, where some stakeholders hailed Ndiomu on floating cooperatives to empower Ex-agitators. If we may ask; who are these Ex-agitators that will be empowered by Ndiomu through these white-elephant schemes? Is it the ones he refuse to pay their monthly stipends going to over six months? He is then a joker.
“Barry Ndiomu should know that the presidential Amnesty program was solely established to cater for the Ex-agitators, doing otherwise by leaving out some of the Ex-agitators is for the detriment of the Nigeria state as a whole and the Niger-Delta in particular”
“We know all about his plans to run in the forthcoming election, and we are using this opportunity to call on Chief Timipre Sylva to have a rethink on picking Ndiomu as a running mate for the forth coming Gubernatorial Election in Bayelsa state later this year, it will be effort in futility, we shall make sure his ambition will be met with strong resistance”
“He also succeeded in forming fake organizations, one of such is the Niger Delta Peace Advocates (NDPA), these are Ndiomu’s brain child that he is using to counter any media statement that criticises his uneven leadership roles as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.”