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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
There is no let-up for calls for the removal of the Interim Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd), as traditional rulers and elders from the six states of the Niger Delta have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over alleged rising diversion of funds by officials in the amnesty office.
Among the allegations thrown up in the petition dated 7th of February 2023 and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Mohammed Monguno (retd) were cases of alleged forgery of late Professor Charles Quaker Dokubo’s signature to backdate contract award letters for purported payment to contractors by some officials of the amnesty office.
The aggrieved Niger Deltans under the aegis of the Coalition of Ex-Militant Leaders( COML) and led by former Generals Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor and James Ebiaredei Collins claimed that there is a need for the suspension of Gen Ndiomu (retd) to allow for proper investigations into the alleged forging of the signature of Dokubo.
The group stated that as stakeholders and owners of the PAP, they cannot continue to remain silent as “our resources are continually been siphoned by corrupt individuals, and for the memories of our loved ones who sacrificed, fought and thousands of them died prior to the proclamation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) in 2009”
While noting that no single PAP beneficiary or anyone from the Niger Delta region has been deployed for training or empowered since Ndiomu came on board, they said many beneficiaries are being delisted.
The petition read in part, “We, Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor, James Ebiaredei Collins of the Coalition of Ex-militant leaders, in our previous petitions to you, have called on your good office to immediately suspend Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd). Management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, and in his place, appoint the most senior civil servant to take over the running and administration of the Presidential Amnesty Programme pending the outcome of the investigation against the Interim Administration.
“We, have it on good authority that officials of the Presidential Amnesty office have paid money to get appointments including the position of Interim Administrator and that they needed to raise back these funds.
“We have no faith or hope in the graft agencies as they have either shredded the allegations and facts provided to them or in connivance with the perpetrators of this graft altogether. Sir, we are hopeful that you will swing into action and save the massive, alleged looting going on at the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
