Governorship election: Ijaw traditionalist Egbesu chodes Ndiomu’s partisan interest

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

The Supreme Egbesu Order (SEO), the Ijaw traditional religious organisation has lambasted the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (retd) for his partisan interests in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in Bayelsa, Governor Douye Diri.

The Chief Superintending Officer of the traditional religious group, Apostle Bodmas Kemepadei, in a statement issued in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, observed that some developments in the Amnesty Office had shown that Ndiomu could no longer hide his hatred against the APC and the Sylva/Macaiver ticket ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the state.

He asked the interim administrator to explain how confidential and official correspondence between him and the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) was leaked to the Bayelsa State Government House and other members of the PDP in the state.

Kemepadei, who attached the leaked documents, wondered why Ndiomu while responding to the SGF’s letter lied that the Deputy Governorship Candidate of the APC in Bayelsa, Joshua Macaiver, did not participate in the amnesty programme.

“We view his response as a deliberate misrepresentation of the amnesty status of the APC deputy governorship candidate. His decision to leak the two documents, SGF’s letter of inquiry and Ndiomu’s reply, was aimed at rendering the Sylva/Macaiver governorship ticket defective in the eyes of the voting population of Bayelsa.

“The action of Ndiomu is partisan politics taking to the most ridiculous level and deliberate mischief from a public office holder, who swore to discharge his functions without prejudice. His motive is to create an undue advantage for his PDP family and his friend, Governor Douye Diri”.

Describing the act of leaking confidential documents by a public office holder as treasonable, Kemepadei called on the Presidency to direct the Department of State Security (DSS) to investigate the development.

He also appealed to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, to probe the activities of Ndiomu in the amnesty office especially the allegations that he had deployed the advantage of his office to help his friend, Douye Diri, defeat the APC in Bayelsa.

Kemepadei, who insisted that Ndiomu lied against Macaiver, presented documents to show that the APC deputy governorship candidate participated in the amnesty programme and registered as number 7 in the list of the first phase beneficiaries.

He said: “Ndiomu’s claim that Macaiver was not granted amnesty and did not partake in the programme is a big lie. Macaiver participated in the programme as one of the leaders, who controlled over 250 ex-agitators.

“Our investigations showed that Macaiver was not just recognised as one of the top leaders, he was also relied upon by PAP to pay his boys their N65,000 monthly stipends and he is outstanding as one who doesn’t tamper with his boys’ stipends.

“In other words, PAP from inception has been paying ex-agitators captured under Macaiver their monthly stipends through Macaiver’s account. We have also multiple pieces of evidence to show that Macaiver participated in many meetings organised by previous PAP coordinators to deliberate on issues affecting the Niger Delta region.

“We are, therefore, amused by the claims of Ndiomu in his leaked correspondence with the SGF that Macaiver did not partake in the amnesty. The only explanation for this claim is Ndiomu’s deliberate partisanship and bias towards the APC to promote the interest of his PDP. We are calling on members of the public to ignore the obvious lies of Ndiomu.

“We are calling on the Federal Government to remove Ndiomu from PAP as the occupier of such office is not expected to play politics with it. We have also reached out to Macaiver to seek legal redress against Ndiomu for criminal defamation”.