Traditional rulers, elders and youth groups from the Niger Delta region have written a Save Our Soul (SOS) letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over plans by the Presidential Amnesty Office to allocate the sum of N5.6billion to alleged fraudulent contracts on the orders of the past Interim Administrator.
According to the letter, these payments have 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 N5.6billion federal allocation is still being expected, and the Presidential Amnesty office has been allegedly under severe pressure by the Interim Administrator who has escaped out of the country since Friday 26th May 2023 for fear of being arrested by the incoming Tinubu’s administration to ensure that the payment of these alleged fraudulent contracts to his friends and cronies are made as soon as possible.
The traditional rulers, elders, ex-militants, youths, and women under the aegis of the Coalition of Ex-Militant Leaders, and led by former General Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor and James Ebiaredei Collins, said “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 N5.6billion from the federal government to his allotted fraudulent contractors.
Former Ex-militant 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 pointed out 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 and 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 these last minute looting, and as a matter of urgency order for the immediate hand-over to the most senior civil servant director.
