Mayor of Urhoboland, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has described the call by Association of Contractors/Vendors and Stakeholders of Presidential Amnesty Programme, on President Bola Tinubu to probe the five billion naira monthly allocation to the agency as mischievious.
It noted its an attempt to blackmail the Administrator of the programme, Dr. Dennis Otuaro, saying Otùaro’s sin against the association is that he is resisting attempts by the contractors and vendors to armtwist him.
Akpodoro, a stakeholder in Amnesty, said contrary to the “lies of the association to whip up fears of crisis in the region,” there’s peace in Niger Delta.
He said since inception of Otuaro, ‘‘former militants are paid as at when due, stakeholders carried along in activities of the programme’’, wondering where the “Success Ebiere-led association of fear mongers saw crisis in the region.”
According to him, most persons, who claim to be contractors are those who sponsor protests against the programme’s managers in the past and present.
“Ask them to show proof of a single contract awarded them and executed by their firms, you will find out their claims are false. What they do is to run to the press, issue threats, and blackmail their targets for pecuniary benefits”, he said.
Contractors, the Urhobo-born leader said, ‘‘are bane of Amnesty and for a long time they have backpedalled human and material development in the region by holding the programme hostage and fleecing it to its bone marrow.”
Akpodoro called on Otuaro to disregard such ‘self-serving forces of discord’ and never be intimidated by those who bully regional agencies established to cater for the region, saying the moment their interests are not met, they go on a “blackmailing spree.’’
The leadership of that group should tell Nigerians what contracts they executed to warrant the media attack launched against the office of the Amnesty coordinator. “They claimed to have been owed for two years. Why didn’t they cry out before the appointment of Otuaro? Akpodoro noted.
“Their outburst is pregnant with mischief. Nobody can destabilise Niger Delta under any guise and not even under the administration that’s doing everything to ensure a better and stronger Nigeria. If they are legitimate contractors, they should follow due process to request their payment and not media noise. Tying their so-called indebtedness to imaginary looming dangers in the region is an insult to commonsense and must be condemned,” he said.
Akpodoro called on President Tinubu to ignore such calls as a ‘‘vicious campaign of calumny against the Federal Government and its agencies.
“A call by such unknown group should be disregarded by the Presdient and secuirty searchlight beamed on the characters behind such reckless call capable of fuelling division among the peaceful people of the region’’, he said.