A popular activist and social crusader in the Niger Delta region, Oghenekaro Edor has condemned campaign of calumny against the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Dr. Dennis Otuaro by those he described as blackmailers and anarchists in the region, who he said concoct scandal stories against leaders from the region.
Reacting to a call made recently by one Justin Alabrabra, who petitioned the National Security Adviser to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to sack the PAP boss, Edor said such call was propelled by the thirst for "their usual blackmail and anger for Otuaro's refusal to do their bidding, which normally is to dole out millions for their sponsor."
The Isoko-born good governance activist stated that calling for the sack of the PAP boss is the most uncharitable thing to do noting that Alabrabra's can't determine who is to be sacked or not, declaring the group was only playing the devil's advocate stressing that their sponsors are well known in the Niger Delta creek.
He maintained that Dr Otuaro, like President Bola Tinubu is reforming the intervention agency to achieve its lofty goals as designed by its founding father before the corrupt elements among the stakeholders and the last managers of the programme turned it to a cash cow.
Dr. Otuaro, Edor insisted is a top-notch administrator of repute and technocrat with the know-how to take that agency back from those who see it as their money spinners rather human development and Empowerment agency meant to right the wrongs against the people of the Nigeria and address it's human capital deficit.
Edor said, "Against the norm, Otuaro has refused to surrender hundreds of million naira to rent seekers, tax collectors and racketeers, who hovers around the management of PAP," adding, "With Otuaro it's a new dawn in the annals of the agency."
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"Otuaro is restoring the hope of the people and empowering communities using the weapon of his wealth of experience in public service over thr years but, reactionary elements certainly will hate and this is why he is being bullied. Well-meaning Niger deltans are behind his giant strides while call the bluff of agents of corruption and their foot soldiers."
"The training of beneficiaries," Edor noted, "follows due process and all beneficiaries are satisfied with the selection process that he said doesn't discriminate."
"The enemies of the Niger Delta region are the ones attacking Dr. Otuaro. They thought they could bully him to sustain their outrageous bulk slots that they alone coveted to themselves over the years. You can't cow Otuaro, he is putting sustainable process in place for the betterment of the few as against the patronising a few at the detriment of larger population.
"We must allow Dr. Otuaro buy back the beauties of the intervention agencies by spreading the benefits of the programme across board for the good of all and not some questionable characters who relish sleaze and malfeasance. They fund their extravagant lifestyle with the process of fraud in the Amnesty Programme.
"All of this, Otuaro is correcting and ensuring that the process gears is sanitised. The NSA should go after troublemakers who have chosen blackmail as their preoccupation," Edor insisted.
