Former agitators from the nine states that make up the Niger Delta region, have called on the newly appointed National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to retain the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd).
The ex-agitators under the Coalition of Ex-agitators of Niger Delta (CEND), who passed a vote of confidence in Ndiomu, said they were comfortable with the way and manner the interim administrator had piloted the affairs of PAP.
Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt, CEND coordinator, Gershom Mpaka Gbobo, who congratulated Ribadu on his appointment, said Ndiomu’s magic wand was needed for the existing peace to continue in the region.
Gbobo 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 N65,000 monthly stipends and make them entrepreneurs, employers of labour and contributors to the economy of the Niger Delta region and peace and the growth of Nigeria”.
The ex-agitators’ leader noted that Ndiomu successfully blocked all the financial leakages in PAP and stopped all corrupt practices especially multiple payments of stipends to individuals with multiple accounts linked to their BVN.
He said: “The recent attacks on Ndiomu launched by those who had hitherto turned the PAP to a cash cow or personal automated teller machine 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 the peace in the Niger Delta,” he said.
Gbobo said while Ndiomu’s attackers resorted to campaign of calumny was because they lacked any evidence to prove their frivolous claims against him.
