Retain Ndiomu as Amnesty Boss, Ex-agitators Pleads with Ribadu

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Ex-agitators from the Niger Delta region have pleaded with the newly appointed National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to retain Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd) as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

The ex-agitators, who came under the Coalition of Ex-agitators of Niger Delta (CEND), told Ribadu that they were comfortable with the way and manner the Ndiomu has piloted the affairs of the PAP.

Speaking yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, CEND Coordinator, Gershom Gbobo, said Ndiomu’s magic wand was needed for the existing peace to continue in the region.

Gbobo, who congratulated Ribadu on his appointment, said since assumption of office, Ndiomu had sanitised the PAP and rid it of corruption.

He said: “General Ndiomu as the amnesty boss has introduced life-changing and sustainable programmes for ex-agitators.

“For instance, the introduction of cooperatives by Ndiomu was designed to wean ex-agitators of dependence on the N65,000 monthly stipend and has made them entrepreneurs, employers of labour and contributors to the economy of the Niger Delta region as well as peace and the growth of Nigeria.”

Gbobo noted that Ndiomu successfully blocked all the financial leakages in the PAP and stopped all corrupt practices, especially multiple payments of stipends to individuals with multiple accounts linked to their BVN.

According to him, “The recent attacks on Ndiomu launched by those who had hitherto turned the PAP to a cash cow or personal automated teller machine showed they are the real enemies of the Niger Delta. These are portfolio contractors and corrupt ex-agitators affected by the Ndiomu’s reforms and initiatives.

“The coalition of ex-agitators of Niger Delta has full confidence in the Ndiomu-led administration. We have moved a vote of confidence in him because he has done well as the interim administrator. All his initiatives are designed to sustain peace in the Niger Delta.

“He has sanitised the office and stopped many fraudulent activities. The interim administrator should be retained to enable him accomplish all his initiatives which we can confidently describe as the game changer for ex-agitators and the Niger Delta.

“If past leadership of the PAP with much more resources at their disposal had been as creative as Ndiomu, the PAP would have succeeded in achieving its mandate. We thank the federal government for ignoring the enemies of the region calling for his removal.”