A group known as the Niger Delta Patriotic Youths, NDPY, has rejected the planned reinstatement of the suspended Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof Charles Dokubo.
President Muhammadu Buhari, had in February, 2020, approved the suspension of Prof Dokubo, about a year after his appointment, following “numerous allegations and petitions surrounding the Presidential Amnesty Programme.”
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, on the suspension said, the National Security Adviser had set up a caretaker committee to look into the activities of the programme, on Buhari’s directive.
In a protest letter to Buhari, the NDPY said, though the alleged reinstatement plan of Prof Dokubo is not official, the concerned youths of the region have noticed the desperate attempts by the embattled former Amnesty Programme boss to lure support through money sharing and blackmail back to office.
The group said the same pattern he allegedly adopted in office as Amnesty Boss with sharp practices, malfeasance and ineptitude which grounded the huge achievements and investments recorded by previous leadership, is being adopted to plot his way back to office.
The President of NDPY, Comrade Timi West, in a statement in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital said, “The suspended Charles Dokubo must not be allowed back into the Amnesty office to further destroy the programme which serves as a panacea to the tranquility being enjoyed in the region.
”Charles Dokubo whirled Amnesty Office into a theatre of war where women fight over men in order to curry favor. Or what competence can you say about Charles Dokubo on the looting of the Boro Town Skill Acquisition Center where over 50 billion naria worth of items vanished into thin air? The man, Professor Charles lacks the capacity and clout for such a sensitive office as the Amnesty Programme.”
Comrade West commended President Buhari for his close observance of the activities in the Niger Delta region saying that, the group is aware of his rejection of the desperate attempt to return Dokubo to office insisting on fairness and zero tolerance to corruption.
“We also plead with him not to allow Professor Dokubo to be smuggled into office. He should be made to answer for the crime while in office as done his predecessors. Dokubo use of blackmail against known aides of the President should not be allowed to work under any guise.
“We also want to assure President Buhari on the sustenance of peace in the region. However, we urged the Presidency to discountenance any sponsored threat by some faceless groups to resume hostility in the region over the re-appointment of Charles Dokubo because such is an empty one by paper tigers. These are part of the desperate measures adopted to bring back the suspended Amnesty Boss,” Timi said.
Commending the NSA for the suspension, Comrade West appealed that an ex-militant leader who has been in the trenches on the Niger Delta struggle should be considered to head and manage the Presidential Amnesty Programme to deliver on its original intent.
”There is need to bring someone who knows the pains and aspirations of the Amnesty beneficiaries on board because as we speak now over 10,000 youths who surrendered their arms and embraced the olive branch are roaming about streets else the stipends that seldomly come given the high handed by Charles Dokubo and his allies.
”Our believe and prayers are that if a person with a background from the trenches, as an ex-agitator can pick up the blueprint of the Amnesty programme he can savage the programme for falling apart because of the situation at hand.
“We demand for the appointment of a new coordinator (Ex-agitator leader) Presidential Amnesty Office, in order to carry out the mandate of Amnesty Programmes such as Skills acquisitions, Educational Training and empowerment Programmes for the beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programmes.
”However, we urged the Presidency to discountenance any threat by some faceless groups to resume hostility in the region over the reappointment of Charles Dokubo because such is an empty one by paper tigers,” he stated.