Some major stakeholders from the Niger Delta have condemned in strong terms an online report credited to a group, Movement for the Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta, calling for a rejig of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and removal of the Interim Administrator, Major Gen. Barry Ndiomu (retd), from office.

The stakeholders, under the platform of Ijaw Integrity Initiative, described the calls as immature, puerile and infantile coming particularly at a time the Programme is being repositioned to correct the years of error and wastage without impacting on the genuine ex-agitators.

A statement by the group signed by its Chairman, Victor Binaebi and the Secretary, Ebi Ekiofagha, wondered why those it described as disgruntled and unrepentant elements in the Niger Delta are persistent on walking the path of perfidy and bringing an entire ethnic group to national ridicule because of their entitlement mentality, insatiable greed and irredeemable spirit of betrayal.

“We are amazed at the level and length some people can go to enable them to achieve their inordinate ambition. We are aware of all their scheming through treachery, deceit and falsehood using online media sources to seek to influence their way into the PAP office” the group stated.

It noted that there was a need for a renewed mindset by some persons in the region to enable them to appreciate the innovations initiated by General Ndiomu who they described as a change agent.

“He has repositioned the PAP and has done this in line with the ideals of the founding objectives of the amnesty programme and those few persons who see the Programme as a cash-cow are those elements resisting the initiatives through blackmail, media attacks, sponsored protests and agitations”, the group alleged.

It emphasized that “Those persons have remained unrelenting in their efforts to discredit General Ndiomu and are lobbying to prop up their stooge for the office to enable them to reinvent the old ways where payment of contractors who executed phantom projects take preeminence over the welfare of genuine ex-agitators who are supposed to be the primary beneficiaries.”

The group called on President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to ignore calls by sponsored groups, calling out public office holders from the Niger Delta as people from a particular ethnic group in the region are well known to inhibit the culture of pulling down people, particularly when such public officers refused to do their bidding.

The statement claimed that Ndiomu has a high pedigree and came to the Presidential Amnesty Programme with both integrity and ideas and has displayed these qualities through the widely accepted cooperative scheme and the ongoing training programmes for pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers within and outside Nigeria as well as other legacy projects and policies.