Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa
The Ijaw Integrity Movement (IIM) has challenged the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Retired Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu to either mention the names of non-Niger Delta people he claimed bought amnesty scholarships with over N700,000 or keep quiet.
The group in a statement on Wednesday 3by its Convener Brakumo Thomas recalled that Ndiomu in his recent visit to some stakeholders in the region alleged that PAP’s scholarships were sold to people who were not from the region.
Thomas said it was unbecoming of someone occupying such a responsible office to be making serious allegations without providing any proof.
He said all stakeholders should compel Ndiomu to provide proof by releasing a list containing the names of scholarship beneficiaries of PAP and their states of origin.
Thomas wondered, who among his predecessors Ndiomu, was trying to cast aspersion on and called on the interim administrator to provide evidence to justify his claims.
He said Ndiomu should not resort to outright falsehood in his desperate attempt to justify the hatchet job of closing the amnesty programme his paymasters had deployed him to do for them.
Thomas said his group had obtained the list of scholarship beneficiaries under the immediate past Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (retd) and threatened to publish the document containing about 1000 names in national dailies to prove that Ndiomu was simply playing to the gallery.
He said: “We challenge Ndiomu to mention the names of those non-Niger Delta people, who bought scholarship slots meant for beneficiaries of PAP. We are disappointed that a man with a such high military background will be throwing allegations carelessly without making efforts to prove them.
“We are not even sure that Ndiomu has the list of scholarship beneficiaries of PAP. If he has, why has he not mentioned one name that is not from the Niger Delta in that list? We are challenging Ndiomu to stop playing in the gallery and come clean with the names.
“Maybe, Ndiomu has resorted to outright lies in his desperation to justify the hatchet job he was sent by his paymasters to close down the amnesty programme, a job we understand he doesn’t know how to go about. It is unacceptable for Ndiomu to be casting aspersion on his predecessors in a bid to give reasons why he wants to close the amnesty office.
“Unknown to him, we have the list of all beneficiaries of the amnesty scholarship under the immediate past Interim Administrator, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (retd) and we will publish the about 1000 names in that list in national dailies if Ndiomu fails to mention the names of non-indigenes that bought scholarship slots”.