By Marcus Ikechukwu
The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has cautioned a group of persons it described as blackmailers to desist from their campaigns of calumny against the Interim Administrator of the programme, retired Major General Barry Ndiomu.
In a statement on Sunday, the PAP’s media consultant, Donu Kogbara, alleged that the detractors, who are desperate to tarnish the image of Ndiomu, with an intent to satisfy their paymasters.
He also alleged that the blackmailers had churned out a series of unsubstantiated and false reports against Ndiomu to damage his reputation and pitch him against key stakeholders of the scheme.
Kogbara stated that the first of their vicious attacks was recycled defamatory reports claiming that Ndiomu was demanding kickbacks from a suspected dubious PAP contractor.
She labelled the allegation as “puerile, ridiculous and false”, insisting that there was no modicum of truth in the report.
“Our attention has been drawn to libellous reports targeting Maj.-Gen Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd), the Interim Administrator (IA) of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).”
“Some unnamed ex-militant leaders from the nine states of the Niger Delta region reportedly accused Ndiomu of corruption in a ridiculous petition that they addressed to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Babagana Mongonu (rtd).
“The allegations revolve around 15 companies owned by a vendor, who was awarded several contracts by a previous coordinator of the programme and is currently engaged in a performance-related legal dispute with PAP. The matter is subjudice.
“The matter was in court even before Ndiomu was appointed the interim administrator, and it beats the imagination of everyone how the sponsors of these vicious reports tried to link Ndiomu to such matter,” the statement added.