Port Harcourt—The Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG) has called out two ex-agitators under the Presidential Amnesty Programme—Gen. Paul Johnson and Solomon Adu—for threatening to occupy the Amnesty office to demand the immediate sack of the Interim Administrator of the programme, Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd) over an alleged non-payment of six months’ allowance.
The duo who accused the PAP boss of delisting names of real beneficiaries of the programme and refusing to pay the stipend of more than 7,000 delegates for over six months had in a communique called on President Muhammadu Buhari to remove Ndiomu and replace him with another.
But NDIG in a statement signed by its convener, Dr. Boma Horsfall on Thursday accused the ex-militants of “fighting back because the new administration of the PAP has stopped their fraudulent practice of feeding fat from the Programme.”
It claimed that both Adu and Johnson have been engaging in fraud by “criminally” receiving monthly stipends with multiple accounts for over a decade.
The group, while urging people of the Niger Delta to disregard any claims by the duo, charged Ndiomu not to be deterred in his efforts to reposition the Programme.
The statement reads: “Let it be on record that Gen. Paul Johnson and Solomon Adu—the two sponsors of the recently publicized communique threatening protest—are fighting back because the new PAP administration has stopped their fraudulent practice of feeding fat from the Programme.
“While John has been criminally receiving monthly stipends with two separate accounts since 2010, Solomon has been doing the same with six accounts, all linked to one BVN for the same period.
“The duo is now frustrated by the reality that General Ndiomu is out to rid the system clean and discontinue this fraud. The Amnesty Programme implies that after beneficiaries are absolved, trained, and empowered, they are to exit and pave way for others. Sadly, they (Paul and Solomon) have both refused to exit the Programme after 12 years.
“Deserving Niger Deltans who are highly industrious and are engaged in credible ventures, have never gained access to the huge sums of monies that have been stolen by these two. They must now bury their head in shame, as their malicious attempt to blackmail the highly revered Interim Administrator is already dead on arrival.
“The NDIG thus enjoins the Interim Administrator not to be deterred in his resolve to reposition the Amnesty Programme. Niger Deltans are also encouraged to disregard the naggings of these criminal elements.”
