Former militant leaders from the Niger Delta region will on Monday lead key stakeholders from the region and members of the Peace Advocacy group, the Niger Delta Peace Advocacy group, under the aegis of the Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) on a solidarity walk in Abuja in support of the 124 beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) that have filed suits at F.C.T. High Court.
The suit is seeking to be joined in stopping the alleged illegal payment being sought by 15 companies linked to the vandalized ₦60billion Amnesty Training Complex in Boro-Town, Kaiama, Bayelsa State.
The fifteen companies and one Jacob Aminu Momoh filed suits in an Abuja Federal High Court seeking an order against the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to pay for the alleged unexecuted contracts in the amount of ₦3.8billion, plus 21 percent post–judgment fees, and special damages which can go as high as ₦5billion to ₦8billion.
However, the 15 companies lists of Amnesty beneficiaries presented by the companies as evidence of the distributions of empowerment tools to purported Amnesty beneficiaries in the nine states of the region have been faulted by the Presidential Amnesty Office and declared unauthenticated and fake.
According to the Amnesty Office, in a letter replying the request from a law firm, Messrs. Folurunsho Aweda and Associates with reference number FAA/AMN/ABJ/MISC/29/8/22 and dated 29th August, 2022, after going through the list of names of beneficiaries as tendered by the 15 companies in connection with the distribution of empowerment items,”the acknowledged stamp shown on the list of beneficiaries forwarded by your law firm for authentication differ from the standard stamp used by PAP to receive and acknowledge documents for vendors.”
However, the Ex-Militant leaders in a statement issued via electronic mail told newsmen that the solidarity walk in Abuja and to the court is to encourage and support the 124 amnesty beneficiaries who are seeking to be joined in the suit and a show of force against officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice led by the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba for allegedly colluding with Jacob Aminu Momoh and the accused companies in an alleged attempts to frustrate their suit at the courts by redeploying experienced legal officers from the Amnesty office in order to deprive the Amnesty office from putting in proper representation in court.”
The National Coordinator of the group, Chief Ayibatekena Olodin, in the statement stated that, “called on all ex-militants in and around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja to join in a peaceful protest against the alleged multi-billion naira Amnesty “legal fraud” at 9:00am prompt on Monday 12th September 2022 at the F.C.T. High Court #27 opposite the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) headquarters before Justice H. Mu’azu”
Chief Olodin asks that all ex-militants remain peaceful in their protests against this blatant fraud being perpetrated by government officials to siphon billions of naira and bankrupt a federal government intervention agency.
He also pointed out that despite the fact that there are about Fifty-Seven Justices in the FCT High Courts system, “therefore there should be no way that 15 separate cases filed in a day with different companies directors should be assigned to only 2 judges; with 9 cases assigned to Justice M A. Idris of FCT High Court #28 and 6 cases assigned to Justice H. Mu’azu FCT High Court #27, what are the odds?”
“Although I am aware that there are some judges that handle specific matters bordering on national security, those cases are filed by the federal government and 15 companies. The issues raised in these 15 cases are based on general contract, therefore I suspect foul-play and collusion.”
The Ex-militants, stakeholders and group also called on Justice H. Mu’azu of F.C.T. High Court #27 and Justice M A. Idris of FCT High Court #28 to immediately recuse themselves from these cases on the grounds of alleged collusion between themselves, the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, Mr. Jacob Aminu Momoh, and the accused 15 companies to sabotage these multi-billion Naira cases in favour of the 15 companies and issue judgement in the amount of ₦3.8billion, plus 21 percent post–judgment fees, and special damages which can go as high as ₦5billion to ₦8billion.
