Ex-militant leaders extol Amnesty’s Director for rejecting N150m bribe

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

Some leaders of former Niger Delta Militants have commended the Director of Finance and Administration in the office of the Special Adviser/Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr. Ilem-Iyam Ilem-Ukam, for upholstery ethical standard in his professional conduct.

The ex-militants described Mr Ilem-Ukam as one who has always distinguished himself of character and proven integrity.

Chairman, Bayelsa state chapter of the Niger Delta Ex-agitators’ Forum, Gen. Excel Yerindikede Toriomo, made the commendation on Friday.

He described as shameful, the reported assassination attempt on the life of the Director of Finance and Administration, Mr. Ilem-Iyam Ilem-Ukam, by unknown persons after he allegedly refused to yield to a purported 150million naira bribe offer meant to induce him to make payments to fake and questionable contractors on the orders of Prof. Dokubo.

Toriomo alleged that “Prof. Charles Dokubo has continued to abuse his office for want of ideas on how to run the Amnesty office.”

He said, “the Amnesty Coordinator has since exhibited his gross incompetence on the job; having surrounded himself with questionable characters who were close aides to a former Special Adviser on Niger Delta/Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsly Kuku, in the last Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) administration under Goodluck Jonathan.”

“We therefore, commend the director of finance for refusing to dance to the corruption melody of Prof. Dokubo, rather, he was prepared to expose the corrupt practices that go on in the Amnesty office on a daily basis.

Being a senior public servant, in accordance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s zero tolerance for corruption, we enjoined him to maintain his moral standard and not allowed anybody to dent his integrity.

Ex-Niger Delta Militant leaders have again called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the coordinator of the programme, reiterating that the current Amnesty Coordinator has exhibited gross incompetence in the way and manner he has handled the office since his assumption of the office early last year.

Mr Toriomo, a stalwart of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and member of the Presidential Youth and Women Mobilization Committee, also alleged that the aides of the former coordinator also had pending criminal cases against them at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as at the time of their engagement by Prof. Dokubo.

On his part, the Chairman of third phase ex-militants, Gen. Ebi John, lamented that Prof. Dokubo has failed the people of the Niger Delta, particularly the ex-agitators who willingly dropped arms in the interest of peace.

He said that the youth in the region have rather been further polarized by “the divide-and-rule-leadership style of the Nuclear Weapon Proliferation expert, Prof Dokubo.”

John said that the ex-militants hinted on plans to mobilize about three thousand youth in Bayelsa State within the week to luck down the Mbiama axis of the East West Road to register their anger against the Amnesty Coordinator, with a view to preventing what he described as a repeat of multiple fresh violent agitations in the Niger Delta.

Mr. John recalled the “sad free-for-all-looting incident at the Presidential Vocational Training Centre Kaiama, on the eve of the Presidential polls under the watch of Prof. Dokubo.

The pay day was fast closing up on the Amnesty boss, even as he may have started counting days of his inglorious exit, as the administration’s first tenure winds up.”

The militant leader further alleged that under Prof. Dokubo, no meaningful achievement has been recorded in terms of trainings and empowerment of delegates,

adding that the university teacher has rather succeeded in making promises without fulfillment, giving an instance where he promised training 2, 500 beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme in modern fishing at Burutu, with assurance of being fully employed on completion of the project, for which an implementation committee and five other subcommittees were inaugurated by Prof. Dokubo.