June 01, (THEWILL) – A Niger Delta group under the aegis of Coalition of Ex-militant Leaders has written a Save Our Soul (SOS) letter to President Bola Tinubu, over plans by the Presidential Amnesty Office to allocate the sum of N5.6 billion on alleged fraudulent contracts on the orders of the past Interim Administrator.
According to the group, these payments have been uploaded to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform to ensure prompt payments once the expected federal allocation hits the Amnesty TSA account.
The group, comprised of traditional rulers, elders, ex-militants, youths, and women from the oil-rich region, urged President Tinubu to “save the Presidential Amnesty Program from these last-minute looting and as a matter of urgency, order for the immediate hand over to most senior civil servant director.”
According to the group, the N5.6 billion federal allocation is still being expected, and the Presidential Amnesty Office has been allegedly under severe pressure from the Interim Administrator, who fled the country on Friday, 26th May 2023, for fear of being arrested by the incoming Tinubu’s administration, to ensure that the payment of these alleged fraudulent contracts to his cronies are made as soon as possible.
The group, led by former ex-militant leaders, Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor and James Ebiaredei Collins, said: “Despite the fact that Maj. Gen. Barry T. Ndiomu (rtd.) travelled out of the country and failed to attend the inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for fear of possible arrest by anti-graft agencies over past questionable deeds for allegedly paying billions of naira to his close aides and fraudulent contractors, the office is prepared to squander the expected N5.6 billion from the Federal Government to his allotted fraudulent contractors.”
Inewariku accused Ndiomu of being the worst PAP boss and the most hated man across the Niger Delta region. He said, “Ndiomu has destroyed the once beautiful Amnesty Programme due to his selfishness and greed. For the first time in the history of the PAP, under Ndiomu, not a single individual or Amnesty beneficiary was trained or empowered, rather, Ndiomu delisted over 3,000 beneficiaries from the Amnesty database and squandered their funds, which were all budgeted for.”
He pointed out that there is rising confusion within and outside the Presidential Amnesty Programme with thousands of students and other beneficiaries stranded without allowances, benefits, scholarship funds and other emoluments remained unpaid.
The group, therefore, called on President Tinubu to order heads of ministries, parastatals, and agencies, including intervention agencies such as the Presidential Amnesty Office, to halt desperate last-minute payments perceived as fraudulent acts.
