The Mayor of Urhoboland and reputable ex-militant leader in the Niger Delta region, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has congratulated the newly appointed Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Dr. Dennis Otuaro while he commends President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on what he described as a thoughtful choice stressing that President Tinuhu got it right.
The Mayor stated this in a telephone interview with our correspondent shortly after the announcement of the new PAP boss by the President’s Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, on Thursday.
The Urhobo-born Mayor commended the President for appointing a technocrat who has the mental wherewithal to manage the programme in lieu of a retired military General adding that the choice of Otuaro will usher in a new dawn in the administration of the Amnesty Programme.
He noted that the appointment of Dr Otuaro was akin to the appointment of the pioneer Coordinator of the programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, who he noted took the programme to a lofty height until it was hijacked by retired military officers who he accused of axphiating life out of the programme by derailing it and at same time promoting unhealthy ethnic rivalry.
He noted that Dr Otuaro will definitely redefine the administrative wellness of the programme and reposition it to the benefit of all without dividing the beneficiaries of the programme along ethnic lines.
Additionally, Mayor Akpodoro stated that having demonstrated his administrative acumen when he was a top-notch executive at the Niger Delta Development Commision, NDDC, Dr Otuaro holds the mace of positive change and accelerated development of the interventionist agencies.
Akpodoro called on Dr Otuaro to manage PAP for the benefit of all ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta and at same time jettison bad ideas from those he described as ethnic jingoists and hangers-on who have no value to add to the development of the programme other than constituting liabilities to the management.
He called on stakeholders in the Niger Delta region including youths and persons to rally round Dr Otuaru for him to achieve success in his administration. Specifically, Akpodoro called on his Urhobo kinsmen to support the new Amnesty scribe adding that destiny has has bestowed on him the leadership of the programme.
“I pray that Dr. Otuaro succeeds in his new office as he carries everyone along without discrimination. We know him as a man with great antecedents and records of service which are unblemished and that, we expect him to replicate in his new office.
“We owe him our support and solidarity, these we shall give to him in abundance. Our desire is for him to change the ugly narratives of the programme from inefficiency to optima productivity.
“Dr. Otuaro should pay scholarship, stipends, train and retrain our youths to be marketable in the labour market, unite beneficiaries by erasing the lines of divisions that he inherited and also remove the programme from the woods of failure,” the Gbaregolor, Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State-born Ex-agitator excitedly stated.
