Allegations Made Against The PAP Interim Administrator, Not True.

 

The former chairman, Bayelsa State chapter of the Presidential Amnesty Programme Phase 2, Gen. Ibena Rufus Salvation, has cautioned some chairmen of the Phase 2 Ex - Agitators forum of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), purportedly from Delta, Edo and Bayelsa States to desist from making malicious publications against the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj. Gen. Barry Ndiomu (Rtd).

Gen. Ibena gave the warning yesterday in Yenagoa while reacting to online publications by ex-agitators leader, Gen. Israel Akpodoro and others from Isoko, Urhorbo and Itsekiri in Delta State, accusing Maj. Gen. Ndiomu of allegedly hijacking N320million and also threatened to shut down Utorogu Gas Plant.

He noted that the allegations made against the PAP interim administrator were not true and that no ex-agitator under whatever guise, nomenclature or auspices hijacked the sum of N320million in Bayelsa or any other state of the Niger Delta connected or related to the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

Gen. Ibena further stated that the Ijaw people particularly in Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states participated and suffered more during the Niger Delta arms struggle, adding that Akpodoro and his cohorts from Delta State, were privileged beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme who never participated in the Niger Delta struggle. 

He said: "My attention was drawn to a publication by one Israel Akpodoro from Urhorbo in Delta State. It is unfortunate that some of these our leaders have forgotten where they came from. People who do not know the history of the Niger Delta struggle. We are not denying the fact that Isoko, Urhorbo and Itsekiri are not Niger Delta. They are; they are our brothers. 

"But when it comes to Niger Delta struggle, everybody in Nigeria even the world at large knows that we the Ijaw people particularly in Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers State suffered the struggle more. Ijaw people and the Ijaw youths participated more during the Niger Delta arms struggle. 

"Because we participated more, we suffered it more when the attack came from the federal government where our communities in Ijaw land, in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers State were destroyed. All these are in the history. 

"When we were doing all these struggles, only the ijaw extension in Delta State participated in the Niger Delta struggle, the Urhorbo people were not there. We couldn't find them, they were not there and that is the truth. 

"Coming to say that the Amnesty office today is doing ethnic segregation or they are bias in dealing with the office activities is not true. As we all know, the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Maj. Gen. Tariye Barry Ndiomu, is a senior military retiree and now a lawyer that knows the law. He would not want to tamper with any illegal dealings in the office. 

"The likes of Israel Akpodoro coming to accuse the office, making all sorts of fake publications is very wrong. Akpodoro should know that he never participated in the Niger Delta struggle. He is just a privileged beneficiary of the Niger Delta Presidential Amnesty Programme. 

"When people were doing the real struggle, he was not there. That was why he cannot be captured in the Amnesty Phase 1. Israel Akpodoro, Solomon Adu and every other Isoko and Urhorbo extract nobody can tell me any role or activities they participated in during the Niger Delta struggle. 

"The entire Delta State apart from our respected leader, High Chief Tompolo, there is no other recognized ex-agitator in Delta State. Even in the Phase 1, talk less of the Phase 2 were people like Akpodoro came when they heard that people were dropping arms. They rushed to somewhere else to drop arm and you think you are part of the struggle. He is not and he knows that. 

He called on the ex-agitators to stop misinforming the public with the struggle of the Niger Delta, adding that Maj. Gen. Ndiomu is up to date in paying everybody including Israel Akpodoro, Solomon Adu and Julius Belemu, what is due to them genuinely. 

"For them to go back and think that what belongs to somebody else should be given to them is not done anywhere. Moreover, this matter that we are talking about was challenged in the Federal High Court in Yenagoa and the judgement is handy. Ndiomu would not have gone outside the law. The public should know that whatever publication they are doing in Delta State there, they are just seeking for unnecessary recognition", Gen. Ibena stated.