PAP: Don’t Negotiate With Blackmailers, Group Tells Ndiomu

Following alleged diversion of funds in the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), a group in the Niger Delta region, the Ijaw Defenders Mandate (IDM) has urged the interim administrator of PAP, Maj. Gen. Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd) to resist the urge to engage with blackmailers.

It said those calling for his suspension were indirectly blackmailing the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Reacting to a recent online publication authored by some persons who claimed to represent ex-agitators, the public relations officer (PRO) of IDM, Comrade Solomon Igbanwei, said those who are busy reporting Ndiomu to the national security adviser, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Babagana Monguno (rtd), may have forgotten that Buhari appointed the PAP boss based on his personal knowledge about his integrity.

He said the NSA who supervises PAP is one of the most intelligent and hardworking military officers the Nigerian Army has produced.

Igbanwei said it was laughable that some ex-agitators would call for the suspension of Ndiomu who has barely spent four months in office at this critical stage in our polity.

He said the tone of the said petition on the suspension of Ndiomu a few weeks to the general elections speaks volume of the intentions of the sponsors of the scheme.

Igbanwei reiterated that allegations that bother on financial impropriety and diversion of funds should be left for the appropriate authorities to handle.

The group explained that two core hallmarks of Gen. Ndiomu’s led-government is integrity and purposeful leadership which have started yielding positive results in the the Presidential Amnesty Programme within the last couple of months, stressing that anyone kicking against Ndiomu is not only fraudulent but champions of corruption.

He pointed out that the Interim Administrator has been working round the clock to make sure that the ex-agitators have gainful employment in federal parastatals, apart from making spirited efforts to introduce soft loans for them to become self-reliant, as such benefits will also trickle down to all facets of our development aspirations in the Niger Delta region.