Niger Delta Group Backs Amnesty Boss

The Niger Delta Coalition Group, a broad-based coalition of civil society organizations, youth leaders, community stakeholders and advocacy groups across the oil-rich region, has issued a statement reaffirming support for the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr. Dennis Otuaro, describing recent allegations of corruption and mismanagement as baseless, malicious and politically motivated.

The group was reacting to a press statement credited to a group, Niger Delta Concerned Youths for Change, which had called for an EFCC probe into the activities of the Amnesty Programme under Dr. Otuaro’s stewardship.

At a joint media briefing held in Abuja yesterday the spokesman of the coalition, High Chief Comrade Preye Ebizimor, rejected the accusations being peddled against Dr. Otuaro on derailing the renewed progress the Amnesty Programme is recording.

“These allegations are nothing more than a manifestation of pull-down syndrome by individuals who no longer enjoy the unrestricted access and patronage they were used to in the past,” he said.

According to Ebizimor, under Dr. Otuaro’s leadership, the Amnesty Programme has strengthened peaceful coexistence among ex-agitators and host communities. The reintegration process has gone beyond mere documentation to implementing meaningful support systems for sustainable livelihoods.

The group said the Amnesty Programme had deepened dialogue with traditional institutions, youth groups and community leaders across all ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta, aligning its operations with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and emphasizing inclusivity and trust-building.