The Strategic Communications Committee (SCC) of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) on Monday urged the Interim Administrator of the scheme, Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu, not to be distracted by the antics of enemies of the Niger Delta.
The Chairman of SCC, Mr. Nature Dumale, who spoke to newsmen in Yenagoa, urged Ndiomu to remain focused, courageous and weather the storm, to enable him to actualise his projects and programmes for ex-agitators and stakeholders in the Niger Delta.
Dumale’s position was endorsed by other members of the committee and leaders of ex-agitators such as Fayeofori Ngiangia, Tonye Bobo, Adokiya Dasimaka Adokiye, B.B. Foloki, Selepere Kalabiri and Ellington Ekufebakumo and Victor Reuben.
Advising Ndiomu, Dumale said: “People will always fight you when you are doing the right things. Nobody will fight you if you are not doing the right thing.
“Please sir, keep your head up. Remember the Eagle Award we gave to you. An eagle soars above challenges.
“Understand that you will not always have the support of everyone. Don’t expect everyone to believe in you. But the many of us, who believe in you, should make you to stand strong and be courageous.”
Dumale condemned the continuous pull down syndrome in the Niger Delta and appealed to aggrieved individuals to support Ndiomu and his plans in the region.
He said the decision of the amnesty boss to establish cooperatives and make loans available to beneficiaries was an indication of his desire to create many entrepreneurs and address unemployment in the region.
Describing the cooperatives as Ndiomu’s flagship project, the SCC members admonished stakeholders to support the initiative for the interest of socio-economic growth and development of the region.
“The Interim Administrator has initiated a flagship programme, the cooperative project. It will help young people to be independent and enable them to have their business and work hard to be successful.
“The Board of Trustee’s Chairman of this cooperative, Justice Francis Tabai (retd) is one person with a track record in this region.
“He is someone that won’t want to identify with failure. For the interim administrator to bring such people to the cooperative shows that he wants the cooperative to succeed and achieve its aim.
“We need to rally round him to make sure that he succeeds. We cannot continue to pull ourselves down as a people. It is becoming like a syndrome. Everybody will not be a leader at the same time. It is one at a time,” Dumale said
The strategic communication committee members further condemned the recent attempts to drag Ndiomu and the Amnesty Office into politics, saying the interim administrator understood perfectly the functions of his office and was too busy to dabble into politics.
They said: “We want to state categorically that the presidential amnesty office is not a political office.
“It is a security office. In fact, the Ndiomu we know perfectly understands the functions of his office and has been discharging them diligently. The amnesty boss is too busy to engage in politics.”
