Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) interim administrator, Maj-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), said the intervention scheme has derailed from its noble objectives.
He spoke during a meeting with former militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta region. Among others, the meeting centred on the future of the programme.
The PAP boss who said it was a new directive of the government about the amnesty programme, also paid homage to the Pere of Gbaramatu, H.R.M King Williams Ogoba Oboro Gbaraun II, at his palace.
The meeting which was held at Tompolo’s country home in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South West LGA, Delta State was in continuation of an ongoing consultation by Ndiomu with critical stakeholders on his new mandate to bring PAP to an end.
“Since I assumed office in the last one month and a couple of weeks or so, I have found out myself that a lot of things are wrong with the programme. Without any doubt, the programme has completely derailed from the purpose for which it was established and as I speak to you, there are many people who are not even Niger Deltans that have been awarded scholarships.
“If you recall, when the programme itself was put in place the objective was for it to have terminated in 2015 but it has gone beyond 2015. And so, the thinking of the government is that we have to refocus and redirect the programme in such a way that we’ll move towards the final termination, in a very systematic manner,” he added.
Ndiomu said: “I’m pleading that we will be inviting His Royal Majesty to also participate at stakeholders meeting so that there will be contributions from the palace, and we can together articulate a position which we’ll present to government to further improve what we want in terms of our demands, for our people.
“We cannot allow this to continue and it is for these reasons and more that I believe the government is saying no, this programme has lost its focus let us all sit together.
“So that is why they’ve asked me to have consultations with the people of the Niger Delta, we sit together and tell ourselves the truth, has it really served the interest of our people, what do we propose collectively as an alternative, as something better, which we have to take back to the government and say, this is how we want this programme to go that will be beneficial to the interest of our people”.
The monarch who congratulated Ndiomu on his appointment, also acknowledged that the amnesty programme had derailed from its original idea and urged him to do what was right in the interest of the people and the region.
His words, “We all know the amnesty programme has a history, let’s start from somewhere, and it’s moving, it’s deviating from the right part. We all know the amnesty programme is deviating from the right part. We want you to be firm, stand firm.
“This visit is a familiarisation one. We have a lot to say, but the time is little, so we also ask for your second visit, so that we’ll discuss at length, because there are many things that we have to discuss for the benefit and the peace of Niger Delta.”