A coalition of former militant leaders under the aegis of the Reintegrated Ex-Militant Forum {REF) has warned the Senate Public Account Committee (SPAC) led by the Senator representing Edo South Senatorial district, Senator Matthew Urhoghide to desist from threatening the Interim Administrator of the PAP, Col. Millard Dixon Dikio (rtd.) with a warrant of arrest over alleged failure of some officials of the Presidential Amnesty Programme to account for a total of N10bn allegedly mismanaged in 2018 prior to the appointment of Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.) as the PAP Boss.
The REF also threatened to issue their own warrant of citizen arrest of Senator Mathew Urhoghide and the members of the Senate Public Account Committee (SPAC) for failing to act on the numerous calls by the people of the Niger Delta region for a probe into the five days looting of the N60b Amnesty Training Centre located at Kaiama in Bayelsa under Prof. Charles Dokubo and the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to establish a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the last seven years.
According to the former militant leaders, though every institution of government is expected to be accountable, the show of desperation and selfish attempts by the Urhoghide-led committee to disrupt the ongoing smooth running of the Presidential Amnesty office is provocative and may resort to violent actions against those involved.
The Reintegrated Ex-Militant Forum (REF), in a statement issued and signed by its National Coordinator, Former General Tony Ebikalaide popularly known along the creeks of the region as Black Spider, described the desperate attempts by Senator Mathew Urhoghide and his cohorts at the National Assembly to threaten and hang Col. Milland Dixon Dikio for crime not committed is a clear case of “losers” trying to “cash out after losing woefully during the National Assembly primaries of their political parties”
He stated that the claims and threat of arrest of the Presidential Amnesty Boss, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.) is treacherous and a fault finding expedition targeted at stampeding the Amnesty office into paying their associates for trumped–up charges.
“Col. Dikio was first appointed in August 2020, and has, despite the challenges, been able to command widespread respect amongst the various stakeholders in the Niger Delta. Col. Dikio has shown capacity, he has demonstrated in the last two years that he understands the workings of the programme when you listen to his vision and template. Col. Dikio has repositioned the scheme, and given them a hope with policies to make them entrepreneurs rather than depending on stipends. The man is a good man, you can see the stability enjoyed in the region within the past two years, he is honest and transparent and very unassuming”.
The group pointed out that “instead of the committee and the National Assembly’s leadership to act when stakeholders from the region rose against the alleged monumental fraud perpetrated under past leadership of the amnesty office including the 2019 looting of the N60billion Amnesty Training Centre in Kaiama community of Bayelsa state, and the various under-table businesses during the tenure of Prof. Charles Dokubo and his predecessors, they were mute because they benefited from the monumental shameful fraud.”
“Now that it is no longer business as usual and they are faced with a disgraceful end to their tenure in the Senate, their tool of blackmail is targeted at a refocused intervention agency such as the presidential Amnesty Programme. Where were these Senators in the last Seven years when the Niger Delta stakeholders have been calling on President Buhari to immediately establish a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).”
According to the group, the members of the National Assembly Committees have allowed themselves to become tools in the hands of politicians that are working against the interest of the Niger Delta region and have become willing actors in the dramatic sequence of harassment, incessant issuance of summons and probes targeted towards arm-twisting the interventionist agencies in order to part away with meagre funds meant for the development and empowerment of the people in the Niger Delta region.
The ex-militant leaders pointed out the shameful incident that happened in the Senate where “rain fell in the nation’s capital, Abuja and disrupted activities at the senate hallowed chamber. Following the heavy leaking of the Senate building roof, the National Assembly staff had to pack water with buckets and dustpans, just as the entire environment was covered with water. Some senators who came later while the place was filled with water, had to go through the house of representatives.
This was a National disgrace and yet these same Senators who allegedly misappropriated their own building funds, who cannot manage their facilities and they can’t even pay their striking staff’s salaries are presently threatening an illustrious Son of the Niger Delta, Col. Miland Dixon Dikio (rtd.) and officials at the Presidential Amnesty Programme that have performed beyond the expectations of many persons in the Niger Delta region with warrant of arrest for alleged ₦10billion fraudulent activities committed in 2018 during the tenure of Professor Charles Dokubo for which Col. Dikio knows nothing about.”
“How many warrants of arrest have these incompetent Senators issued to officials overseeing our nation’s security system which has clearly crumbled before our eyes? How many warrants of arrest have been issued to leaders in our health sector, transportation sector, electrical power sectors and so on? These Senators should be ashamed of themselves.”
The group, however, warned that should Senator Matthew Urhoghide and members of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts decide to continue in their alleged fault finding of the Presidential Amnesty Office under a more organized leadership of Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd.), we will not hesitate to repay them back the language we as ex-militants know best, and also mobilize the people of the Niger Delta region, particularly the people of their constituents against them in protest against their continued intimidations, and where possible, make public all their associates records of unexecuted contracts allocated to them in the past.”
