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By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
Concerned over the “delusive bunch of unfounded allegations against the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd.), and some of his staff, by some disgruntled fellows and purported leaders” of the Phase 3 of the program from Edo, Delta and Ondo states, as published in the media on November 13, the national publicity secretary of Third phase, Inko Brighstar, has urged “the general public to disregard such claims in its entirety.”
He noted that “such move was a deliberate attempt to distract the attention of Gen. Barry Ndiomu in his commitment to reposition and sanitize the leadership of the Phase 3 from the numerous illicit and corrupt practices of the immediate past administration led by Tonye Bobo.”
According to Brighstar, “it is laughable how Hon. Brinimughan Jesse a.k.a General 90, had alleged the existence of a collective agreement of the entire Phase 3 leaders as to the rotation of power among the various states concerned, when in fact there is none.”
He said, “It is so shameful that General 90 has made himself subject of the alleged fraudulent vices of Tonye Bobo, because he (Gen. 90) with other leaders campaigned for Tonye Bobo’s re-election as chairman and at same time claimed that power was unanimously agreed to be shifted to Delta State or any other state aside Bayelsa. That is purely an organized fraud and such acts must not be allowed to continue in Phase 3 leadership as one cannot approbate and reprobate on a particular issue at same time.
“Let me state it categorically clear that the election of 16th September which produced gen. Elaye Slaboh as the national chairman of the Phase 3 was validly made public and on no grounds whatsoever can anyone challenge the legality, and as such,” he said, as he urged the Interim Administrator “to remove Tonye Bobo as a member of the STRATCOM committee with immediate effect as he is thus incapacitated by virtue of the fact that he is no longer the national chairman.
“Let me quickly remind Tonye Bobo who is the mastermind and perpetrator of these unwarranted, baseless and misleading public statements, to take into account the alleged numerous illicit and corrupt activities which he engaged using the authority of his office while he was the national chairman of Phase 3. Thus, he should forthwith refrain from further pillar-pushing any further attack against the leadership of the Phase 3 and the interim administrator, just for mere personal benefits and that of his accomplices,” he said.
According to Brighstar, “the leadership of the third phase of the presidential Amnesty Program by this has issued a strong warning to Tonye Bobo, his allies, privies, cohorts or whosoever is instrumental to the publication of these fallacious and misleading publications against the Gen. Barry Ndiomu-led administration of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and the current Phase 3 leadership ably led by gen. Elaye Slaboh to beware of their actions and the messages they pass accross to the members of the general public.
“It is not in doubt whatsoever that Gen. Barry Ndiomu, in an attempt to inquire into the financial records and activities of the PAP upon resumption of office had discovered alot of fraudulent practices going on in the system. It was so shocking that most leaders had fraudulently operated several bank accounts with other people’s names which they had linked to their BVN. This fraudulent practice affected some genuine leaders as nobody will fold his hands and watch a few individuals hijack the funds meant for public interest for their own greedy and selfish use,” he said.
The publicity secretary, Inko Brighstar said at the time of this discovery he spoke to Tonye Bobo in his capacity as national publicity secretary under his administration “to go and meet with the interim administrator so that the genuine persons affected by the restrictions will be cleared and paid their salaries, but he (Tonye Bobo) did otherwise due to his own personal interest and petty gains. But now that the table has turned, he is now bringing fraudulent claims and allegations against the same system wherein his life was watered during the good days. Oh! What a life; and to simply put, it is highly unreasonable to have alleged that Gen. Barry Ndiomu had carried out such exercise in question to acquire slots from beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme as there is no iota of correlation in such line of reasoning in view of the peculiar circumstances of the matter.”
He further revealed that “It could be recalled that Tonye Bobo had sometime in 2022, harrased one gen. John Ebi on Rhythm FM in Yenagoa while talking about the welfare of the PAP beneficiaries in what looked like a voluntary effort to protect the interest of the Amnesty Office against persons legitimately agitating for their own rights. But now that power has changed hands, he has turned a rebel overnight, that is so shameful, hence he is urged to hide himself in shame as he cannot blow hot and cold on same issue.
“Let it be known to him and his group that the Amnesty boss is in no way interfering in the leadership of the Phase 3, but is playing his role effectively as the central man to ensure that criminality and fraud will not continue to rampage the Phase 3 and the entirety of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“He is hereby cautioned to desist from further sponsoring useless attacks, protests and agitation against the validly installed national leaders of the Phase 3. A coalition no matter how strong, will always be at the mercy of the state, you’re strongly warned,” he said.
