The Mayor of Urhoboland and notable ex-militant leader in the Biger Delta, Eshanekpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Security Adviser, NSA, to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the entire Nigerian security apparatus to go after those he described as blackmailers and clog in the wheel of the development of the Niger Delta region.
He said mischievous elements are behind attacks on the person and the office of the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Dr. Dennis Otuaro.
Reacting to series of calls by persons he described as proteges of a notable ex-militant leader for the sack of the Administrator, Dr. Otuaro, the Mayor said the sponsors of that blackmail is a well known phase 1 ex-militant leader who he described as a coward for using boys to attack a man he said has come to change the face of the Amnesty Programme, thus repositioning it for maximum productivity and for the betterment of all.
He called on Dr. Otuaro not to be discouraged by the villification of questionable characters who he argued were part of the rot in the Amnesty Programme over the years as he urged the Administrator to remain steadfast in his drive to birth a strong and reliable Amnesty Programme for all Niger Deltans irrespective of whose ox is gored.
The Urhobo-born ex-militant leader noted that a time was when the Amnesty office paid a hundred million naira to the sponsor of the malicious calls for the sack of Otuaro at his birthday anniversary but that the new Sheriff in town has blocked all the leakages plaguing the programme, including stopping such unholy alliance with notorious characters who wish to see the PAP sink and subsumed by corruption.
Dr. Otuaro, the Mayor noted, would not pander to any blackmail or malicious sentiments or call for his sack but will serve his people with good conscience in order to change the norm of corruption and sleaze in his administration of the programme to better the larger population of Niger Deltans.
Akpodoro accused the civil servants in the Amnesty office of complicity in the leakage of classified documents to the notorious elements who turn around to blackmail the Administrator saying, “everyone involved in the past sleaze and current efforts to pull down the administration and stopping Dr. Otuaro from taking the PAP to a lofty height, is all known and will be named and shamed soon.”
Another salient reason for attacks on Otuaro, according to Akpodoro, is the fact that the Administrator is linked to the Chairman of Tantita Security Services Nig Ltd, TSSNL High Chief Government Ekpemukpolo a.k.a Tomopolo who he noted has been able to defeat all insurrections against the Nigerian economy by tying the noose on the jugular of oil thieves and to this extent, dealers and wheelers in oil theft have chosen to attack anybody linked to the ‘GOC’ of the Niger Delta region including Dr. Otuaro.
They are kicking over the tight security brought about by the TSSNL in the Western axis of the Nigerian waterways where Tompolo’s have sealed up against their criminal enterprise and the only way they can cry out is to attack anyone linked to the ‘GOC,’ Akpodoro stated.
He noted that as time goes on, the financier of the rebellious group would be unveiled and shamed as he called on the security agencies to go after the sponsor of the blackmail against Otuaro.
The ex militant leader who is using his boys to fight Dr Otuaro, Akpodoro said, is fighting God and Niger Deltans who have implicit confidence in the administrative capacity of the technocrat who has been doing his best to remove the programme from the woods it was plunged into by questionable characters who pride themselves as owners of the programme.
“A time was when every birthday anniversary of this phase 1 ex-militant leader who has unfortunately chosen the path of ignominy was given a hundred million naira in gift, and to him it must continue unabated and whoever chooses to develop the youth population and the region becomes an enemy. We shall name and shame him in due course,” Akpodoro stated.
He added that the Amnesty Administrator inherited a vexatious issue of multiple BVN of beneficiaries, and he has been sorting it out gradually to avoid error noting that Dr. Otuaro did not create the problem but inherited it and he should be given time to ameliorate the situation instead of attacks on his person.
He said if blackmailers come under several names like Association of Constractors and Vendors, it will be one paranoid ex-militant leader sponsoring attacks, all for personal gains.
“We represent the collective aspirations of our people, and we support those who mean well for the people and not selfish individuals who wish to armtwist the managers of the programme for personal gains using the civil servants to achieve their aims as he called on the Head of Service to rejig the workforce in the Amnesty office to pave the way for meaningful develoment of the Niger Delta region and her people.
