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By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
Traditional rulers, elders and youth groups from the Niger Delta region have sent a petition to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all security agencies over alleged cases of alleged gross misconduct and misappropriation of funds at the Presidential Amnesty office headed by the interim administrator, Maj. Gen. Barry T. Ndiomu (rtd.).
The traditional rulers, elders, ex-militants and youths, under the aegis of the Coalition of Ex-Militant Leaders, and led by former General Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor and James Ebiaredei Collins, in the letter sent to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said there is need for proper investigation, arrest and prosecution of officials of those allegedly involved at the Presidential Amnesty office.
They alleged that the Presidential Amnesty Office has now become “a haven of fraud with claims that the whopping sum were monies paid monthly to the various ex-militant camps, while they allegedly pay ghost contractors and fraudulent procurement projects.”
The stakeholders also insisted that the brandished figures are the cumulative funds paid through the ex-militant leaders to thousands of beneficiaries and youths in their various camps over the period.
They further noted the urgent need to appoint a new administrator for the Amnesty office, or “in the interim, direct the most senior director who is not a close aide of Ndiomu or was brought to the office by Ndiomu due to their past close relationship to pilot the affairs of the Amnesty office pending the appointment of a substantive administrator who will launch a probe into the recent fraud and misappropriation of N22.5 billion by the present administration at the office.”
In their letter to the President and the security agencies, the ex-militant leaders and stakeholders warned “one Moses Siasia, a relative and kinsman of Ndiomu, who is allegedly the editor of an online media platform and the convener of Nigeria Young Professionals, to desist from promoting the propaganda of fraudulent individuals, and from spreading falsehood against ex-militant leaders and beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme through a fictitious name and group known as the Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG) by Dr. Boma Horsfall, and blaming genuine protests against Ndiomu as supporters of Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar.”
The stakeholders called for an immediate probe into the alleged N20 million monthly media contract, “despite having a full media team in the Amnesty office.” They claimed that the said N20 million monthly payments has accumulated to about N150 million since they delisted over 3,000 legitimate Amnesty beneficiaries from the database and their funds allegedly diverted into personal pockets.
They also claimed that “Ndiomu never supported the presidential campaign of now President Tinubu. In fact, when Ndiomu was approached by ex-militants and stakeholders to support the scheduled Tinubu’s campaign programs across the Niger Delta region, he blatantly refused, became very angry and uttered unimaginable words, and then stating that he will remain apolitical, and that former President Buhari has extended his tenure beyond his time in office, so he has nothing to worry about Tinubu.”
The stakeholders recalled that they had to raise an alarm over the plan by the Presidential Amnesty Office to allocate the sum of N5.6 billion on alleged fraudulent contracts on the orders of the past Interim Administrator, claiming that these payments had been uploaded to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform “to ensure prompt payments once the expected federal allocation hits the Amnesty TSA account.”
According to them, the N5.6 billion federal allocation is still being expected, and the Presidential Amnesty office has been allegedly “under severe pressure to ensure that the payment of these alleged fraudulent contracts to his friends and cronies are made ASAP.”
The Coalition of Ex-Militant Leaders, led by former General Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor and James Ebiaredei Collins, also alleged that “despite the fact that Maj. Gen. Barry T. Ndiomu (rtd.) travelled out of the country and failed to attend the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for fear of possible arrest from the anti-graft agencies over past questionable deeds for allegedly paying billions of naira to his close aides and fraudulent contractors, the office is prepared to squander the expected N5.6 billion from the Federal Government to his allotted fraudulent contractors.”
Ex-militant leader, General Boma Inewariku, accused Ndiomu of being “the worst PAP boss, and the most hated man across the Niger Delta region.”
He said, “Ndiomu has destroyed the once beautiful Amnesty Programme due to his selfishness, and greed. For the first time in the history of the PAP, under Ndiomu, not a single individual or Amnesty beneficiary was trained or empowered, rather, Ndiomu delisted over 3,000 beneficiaries from the Amnesty database and squandered their funds which were all budgeted for.”
The group also alleged that there is rising confusion within and outside the Presidential Amnesty Programme with “thousands of students and other beneficiaries stranded without allowances, benefits, scholarship funds and other emoluments remained unpaid.”
They called on President Tinubu to order these heads of ministries, parastatals, agencies including intervention agencies such as the Presidential Amnesty office to halt “desperate last minute payments perceived as fraudulent acts.”
The elders and youths called on President Bola Tinubu to save the Presidential Amnesty Programme from alleged last minute looting, and as a matter of urgency order for the immediate hand-over to the most senior civil servant director.
