The Ijaw Youths Network (IYN) has expressed concerns over what it describes as a coordinated smear campaign against the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro.
The group has accused unnamed mischief-makers and their sponsors of spreading false allegations of financial misconduct against the PAP boss in an effort to discredit him.
In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its President and Secretary, Frank Ebikabo and Federal Ebiaridor, the IYN specifically called out a group known as the “Niger Delta Liberators and Ex-Agitators Forum (NGLEF),” which recently alleged that Otuaro had engaged in fraudulent disbursement of funds and awarded contracts to inactive and unregistered companies.
The NGLEF, through one Odey Otunu, further claimed that the PAP administrator had approved N50 billion for a company that lacked legal standing in Nigeria.
The IYN clarified that Otuaro was appointed in March 2024 and has since initiated payments for scholarships, engaged stakeholders, and provided vocational training for delegates and others.
It questioned how he could have procured N50 billion to pay a non-existent company as claimed by the fictitious group, advising those behind the smear campaign against Otuaro that not everyone can be the administrator of PAP simultaneously.
Dismissing these allegations as baseless, the IYN stated that its independent investigations revealed that the claims were fabricated to tarnish Otuaro’s reputation and disrupt the ongoing reforms within the PAP.
The group also linked the latest attacks to the same individuals behind a protest against the PAP administrator at the United Nations headquarters in New York last December. It alleged that the smear campaign is driven by vested interests disturbed by Otuaro’s refusal to turn the PAP into a conduit for financial mismanagement.
Since taking office in 2024, Otuaro has been credited with significant reforms, including the expansion of the PAP scholarship scheme and the introduction of new vocational training programmes aimed at bridging the skills gap in the Niger Delta.
Describing the attacks as pathetic, the IYN urged stakeholders to dismiss the allegations and instead support the ongoing transformation of the PAP under Otuaro’s leadership.
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