The Mayor of Urhoboland, Eshanekpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has called on those he described as rabid critics of the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr. Dennis Otuaro, to look elsewhere for profiteering and racketeering saying the programme under Dr. Otuaro has stopped being a “father Christmas” at the detriment of public good.
He said rather than attacking the “energetic and goal-focused Amnesty boss, his critics should get a life and move on saying, the interventionist programme is not an exclusive preserve of any individual or group.
According to Mayor Akpodoro, who spoke to our correspondent on telephone, on the sideline of a stakeholders’ meeting in his Mayoral Palace in Ughelli, Delta State, the barrage of attacks on the Administrator of the PAP speaks volume of bitterness and “irresponsible envy and unhealthy conflict of interest.”
He added that the management of the programme needed the support of all to the Presidential Amnesty initiative for the people of the Niger Delta region to a lofty height as being piloted by the Administrator who he described in glowing terms.
The Mayor hinged his statement on the allegations of misappropriation of funds and lopsidedness in the choice of trainees against Dr. Otuaro’s management from some persons who he said were sacked on assumption of office by the Administrator for sundry administrative offenses.
The category of the sacked workers, he noted, were inherited from the past management of the agency particularly the immediate past Coordinator, Mr. Barry Ndiomu.
“They have turn themselves to the conscience of the programme whereas while they were the components of fraud in that office while they worked but have now found occupation in attacking a man who is doing his best to reposition the programme for greater productivity.”
He further stated that Dr. Otuaro would not pander to pettiness and cheap gossip saying the evidences are there in the programme to justify the reformation and repositioning of the agency.
He said unlike what it was under the previous coordinator whose administration ran aground the programme, building a legion of liabilities, a development that almost crumbled the agency but for the sack of that management and the appointment of Dr. Otuaro, the present administration is focused on developing the amnesty program.
Akpodoro said the administration of Dr. Dennis Otuaro stands on the principles of accountability, honesty and transparency, noting that his stance on the philosophy of aggressive development of human and material resources in the Niger Delta region places him on the pedestal of an expert in human development.
He said his stance against corruption informed the envy and jealousy from those who had hitherto seen the agency as their fiscal fountain.
As a devote traditional religion believer, the Mayor stated that, Dr. Otuaro has the fear of God, standing on the rock of his faith without let or hindrance with absolute humility, professional prowess and sincerity.
He said those who mock the administrator’s traditional belief are the same ones who looted the agency, stressing that the best thing for the “horde of attackers on Otuaro should get a life for themselves and exit mischief.”
He said it’s more profitable for all ex-agitators and persons of the Niger Delta to support and uplift the programme and the new management.
“What do the rabblerousers want from the Amnesty programme outside making it efficiently productive for all? Dr. Otuaro is training and retraining the youths of the region drawing the beneficiaries equitably from among all ethnic nationalities in the region.
“He is paying ex-agitators promptly and none is owed. He has filtered away all phoney contractors and paying genuine ones. He blocked all leakages through which the programme was hitherto fleeced to its bone marrow in the past and progressively, the Admistrator is building a programme that would stand the test of time in the gab of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.”
He called on the President through the office of the National Security Adviser to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to beam searchlight on mischief makers in the oil-rich region to forestall incitement of the general public against the current administration saying the thrust of the region, is nothing but peaceful disposition to governments at levels.
