From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major-General Barry Ndiomu (retd), has dismissed claim of planned cancellation of the scheme.
Ndiomu, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Freston Akpor, explained the scholarship scheme, just like the contract awards, was suspended because of an ongoing auditing exercise and will commence immediately the process is concluded.
“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no iota of truth in the rumour. The scholarship scheme, just like the contract awards, was suspended because of an ongoing auditing exercise and will commence immediately the process is concluded,” he said.
To this end, Ndiomu announced the suspension of Patrick Ipidei and Papems Peter Etolor, who are students under the scholarship scheme, for spreading fake news and inciting a protest.
He said: “We have received very disturbing reports of the horrendous activities of Messrs Ipidei and Etolor, two students under the ongoing PAP scholarship scheme. Ipidei and Etolo had over time cultivated the habit of spreading falsehood and making spurious allegations against PAP management and Ndiomu. It is to our knowledge that the duo and their sponsors are instigating other scholarship students and former agitators under the PAP to carry out an unnecessary public protest to embarrass the management.
“The sponsored public protest is being planned because of the spiteful rumour that PAP management has stopped the ongoing amnesty scholarship scheme. Only last week, Ipidei and his team met a senior official of PAP and the report of that meeting is receiving the needed attention. We, therefore, wonder why he has intensified his personal vendetta against PAP management.
“Arising from their misconduct, the management has withdrawn the scholarship of Ipidei and Etolor with immediate effect. A letter to that effect has been sent to their respective institutions of learning.
“It should be noted that similar fate will befall any recalcitrant student that decides to go against the code of conduct relating to the sponsorship of their scholarship programme. The PAP will not allow deviant elements undermine its efforts. We use this medium to also call on all our scholarship students and former agitators to use the right channels to register whatever grievances or concerns they may have.
“The management is committed to ensuring best practices in the delivery of its mandate and will not be distracted in any way by enemies of progress and agents of destabilisation,” he said.