TheCable

The Niger Delta Integrity Group (NDIG) has faulted calls for the sack of Barry Ndiomu as the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

In a statement released on Friday, Boma Horsfall, NDIG convener, said the plot is being hatched by persons who have been illegally benefiting from the amnesty programme since 2010.

According to Horsfall, the individuals are fighting back because the new administration of the PAP stopped their “fraudulent practice of feeding fat from the programme”.

“The amnesty programme implies that after beneficiaries are absolved, trained and empowered, they are to exit and pave way for others,” the statement reads.

Horsfall said the aggrieved persons have refused to exit the programme after 12 years.

“They must now bury their head in shame, as their malicious attempt to blackmail the highly revered interim administrator is already dead on arrival,” he said.

NDIG called on Ndiomu not to be deterred in his resolve to reposition the amnesty programme and asked Niger Deltans to disregard the threats from the former beneficiaries.

The Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) was initiated by former President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2009 to curb youth restiveness, militancy and destruction of oil processing infrastructure in the Niger Delta.