The Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG) has cautioned one Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a Akpodoro, to immediately refrain from fanning the embers of ethnic bigotry in his “failed” quest to malign the Office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), under the leadership of retired Major General Barry Ndiomu.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Convener of the NDIG, Dr. Boma Horsfall noted that claims of the self-styled Mayor of Urhoboland and self-acclaimed leader of ex-agitators in the Niger Delta region are tied to a selfish agenda.
He faulted online blogs “that do not understand the rudiments of facts-based journalism for allowing their platforms to be used to sponsor misguided articles against the PAP.”
The NDIG recalled that the First Phase ex-agitators were the ones who originally embraced the Presidential Amnesty Programme and laid down their arms in Obubra, Cross River State in 2009.
“He (Akpodoro) does not belong to the First Phase. The public should take note that he is a Second Phase member. The Second and Third phases are the ones giving the PAP issues.
“They are not the ones that this programme was originally set up for in the first place,” the statement partly read.
The group alleged that “these were a set of cultists and miscreants wrongly enlisted under the programme by Kingsley Kuku.”
Horsfall further stated that the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government is out for serious business, and will not be “cajoled into listening to jokers like Agbonkpolor and their primitive ways of reasoning.”
He said the “Presidency has to be reminded that currently, the most peaceful region of Nigeria is the Niger Delta for obvious reasons, thus, appointing a non-Ijaw administrator to head the PAP will trigger devastating consequences, which will be detrimental to the country at large.”
The group maintained that when the Ijaws submitted their arms at the beginning of the amnesty programme, other tribes labeled them criminals.
According to NDIG, “As I speak, the First Phase delegates are even ashamed of being referred to as ‘generals’ or ‘ex-warlords’ in public places.
“If the National Security Adviser cannot see through and understand the issues, then his competence is questionable.
“We urge Ndiomu to not be dismayed by unguarded statements from uneducated miscreants, and focus on his noble stewardship of the PAP,” the statement further added.
Mangrovepen.ng gathered that Akpodoro while speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Abuja on Tuesday called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack Ndiomu.
According to reports, Akpodoro in his speech claimed that Ndiomu is former President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘work tool’ that should not be used by the current administration.
He described Ndiomu as an ethnic man and as such shouldn’t be occupying such a sensitive position in a government agency responsible for the development and growth of a multidiverse Niger Delta region.
