Women Petition EFCC Over Amnesty Fraud

The  Warri Women Consulta
tive Assembly, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accusing six of their kinsmen of gross financial misconduct in the amnesty programme of the Federal Government.
The six kinsmen (names withheld), the group further alleged, presented fictitious names to the Federal Government with which they had allegedly been drawing N100 million monthly.
The petition dated June 10, 2014, urged the EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde to intervene in the matter and ensure that what was meant for their children was no longer diverted into private pockets.
The petition signed by Chief Rita Lori Ogbebor, alongside five others, claimed that the accused kinsmen, including a federal legislator, had no authority to represent the Itsekiri ethnic group or their children.
According to the petition they “have been acting without any authority since 2012 when the Federal Government gave out 500 slots to the Itsekiri in the amnesty programme. We, the concerned Itsekiri mothers, are very worried that our children who are supposed to benefit from the amnesty programme are not doing so. Rather, a group of persons are using fictitious names to collect money from the Federal Government with the impression that they are using the money for the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme.”
The mothers expressed worry over the rate of restiveness in their state, attributing it to unemployment and lack of education occasioned by the fraudulent activities of their kinsmen.  The women expressed the belief that the amnesty programme would have addressed the situation if allowed to work as intended.
“For example, the children of some of our fallen heroes of the Warri crisis are languishing away. Their mothers are unable to take care of them morally and educationally. We fear that some of these children may grow up to take up arms in the next few years, if they are not adequately catered for. And this is the problem the Federal Government is trying to address with the amnesty programme,” the women said.
According to the petition, the accused kinsmen registered a body with the Corporate Affairs Commission for the coordination of the programme on behalf of the Itsekiri, running same from their homes and relatives’ offices.
The group further alleged that when they were accused of the fraudulent act, the men “hurriedly went to produce a fictitious list of 75 names of unknown persons and alleged that they are schooling in different universities in the  United Kingdom.