Group condemns spate of mudslinging on Amnesty aid
Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo
The Foundation for Peace and NonViolence in Nigeria has condemned the spate of mudslinging in the media on the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Professor Charles Quaker Dokubo.
In a press statement issued in Abuja and signed by Comrade Onengiye Erekosima, the President of the group, said that the Ijaw nation was being embarrassed by attempts to soil the reputation of the Special Adviser by some Ijaw sons either jostling for his position in the Presidency or having an interest to protect.
He also said that Prof. Dokubo was a decent man, who did not deserve such mudslinging and that nemesis would catch up with the perpetrators.
Erekosima lampooned against what seemed of recent to be the character of some Ijaw people to pull their brothers down in order to replace them in their jobs or just for self centredness, pointing out that the dog eats dog mentality was embarrassing the Ijaw nation before other Nigerians and urged them to desist from such queer and borrowed culture, for which the Ijaw people were not known for in the past.
He said that it was unthinkable for anyone to imagine or mute the allegations, not to talk of falsely accusing him in the media of such heinous offence as looting a training complex, knowing full well his forthright status and impeccable character in Ijaw land in particular and Nigeria in general.
The President said that among the past Special Advisers, none could match him in terms of vision for the programme, achievements so far accomplished and steps to implement the programme’s blue print, adding that his one year in office is like three years of some Special Advisers.
Erekosima cited the case of prompt and regular payment of stipends to ex-agitators, who no longer block the highways in the region to protest the anomaly, as a big credit.
He stated that a cursory interaction with the Special Adviser would leave no one in doubt of his intellectual capacity, dexterity and diligence to deliver and appealed to members of the public to discountenance the campaign of calumny by these misguided Ijaw persons.
He further said that the Special Adviser is an honest man that meant well for the people of the Niger Delta and cautioned that history would not forgive anyone working to truncate this hope.
Erekosima urged such people to wait patiently for their own time, if God so destined them for it, and allow the present Special Adviser unfold all he had for the region.
On those who were attacking the Special Adviser to protect vested interest, the Comrade said that truth like pregnancy cannot be covered and urged the critics to wait patiently for the outcome of the committee investigating the matter.
