From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Ex-agitators under the auspices of Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG) has condemned a petition presented to the National Security Adviser, against the Interim Administrator, Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (Rtd) of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), by some contractors over alleged graft.
Coalition of ex-militants Leaders had raised the alarm over an alleged diversion of funds allocated to the PAP.
But NDIG Convener, Dr. Boma Horsfall
Convener, in a statement yesterday, parried the petition, describing it as untrue, baseless, unfounded, and a clear case of a sponsored attempt to evoke distraction away from the good works of the new administration.
Horsfall noted with utmost dismay, how some people from Ijaw would choose to remain non-futuristic, disunited and l sticking to the culture of pulling down each other.
He recalled how the likes of Brig. Gen. Paul Boro (Rtd), late Prof. Charles Dokubo and others who are of Ijaw ethnic extraction were pulled down by our own people.
“It is sad that our people have maintained the trend of writing petitions to drag each other, rather than focusing on things that will move the Niger Delta region forward.
“The NDIG recalls that there was a time when a northerner was appointed on Interim basis to head the PAP. Did they write petitions at the time?
“We have it on good authority that a portfolio contractor identified as Andrew Pinneh and his associates, had been threatening to blackmail the Interim Administrator for refusing to pay him a dubious sum of N1.5bn.
“The said contractor who owns NYEEAP SYNERGY CONSULTING LIMITED, never delivers in contracts awarded to him, and has been doing so in connivance with a suspected mole in the PAP Accounts Department.
“The NDIG also has it on record that the contractor was one of those used by late Dokubo to run fraudulent errands both in Nigeria and in the UK during the latter’s time as Interim Administrator of the PAP.
“The Presidential Amnesty Programme receives a monthly budgetary allocation of N5bn.
“Out of this amount, over N3.8bn is exhausted on paying monthly stipends of ex-agitators with bulk payments to their leaders, who are called the ‘Big Five’, educational scholarships are also facilitated from this monthly fund.
“Unpaid contractors are settled from same fund, the day-to-day running of the PAP office, stakeholders engagement meetings, salaries of staff, are all sorted from this fund. So what remains to be diverted?
“Given this huge monthly expenditure of the PAP, the said sum of N12bn being diverted is laughable and unrealistic.
“These group of disgruntled elements have only been provoked by the refusal of Gen. Ndiomu to dance to their tune and the strictness of the Committee set-up by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) which recommended that contractors who did not execute their contracts should not be paid.
“This is the same culture in the NDDC, where contractors are fraudulently demanding for payments for contract they didn’t execute.
“We are, however, aware that majority of these ex-agitators are jobless and can be used as a tool for destruction. But the good news is that General Ndiomu is working tirelessly to create sustainable livelihoods for them.
“To this end, they must now desist from being continuously used as a tool in the hands of their brainless sponsors.
“The ongoing reforms in the PAP is no doubt triggering this fight-back. We urge General Ndiomu to publish the fabricated job report done by this so called contractor, so the world will see the dubious nature of these characters and also take the bold step of identifying and removing the moles in his office working together with these enemies of progress,” he said.