The Bayelsa state chapter of the Niger Delta Ex-agitators Leadership Forum has suspended two of its members, Gen. God-gift Ayabowei and Gen. Bull Ebitei Ifiemi, for allegedly attending a secret meeting with the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj. Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), intended to establish a parallel government to frustrate their agitation for improved welfare.
In a statement endorsed by 34 ex-militant leaders in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State Capital, the forum described the attempt by the PAP boss, Ndiomu, to disorganize the Forum by sponsoring a parallel executive to frustrate their demand for better welfare as another sign that his continuous stay in office is a threat to the peace currently being enjoyed in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking on behalf of the forum during a press conference, High Chief Hon. Gen. Charles Kurobo James (Chairman, Niger Delta Ex-agitators’ Leadership Forum, First Phase, Bayelsa State Chapter) and Chief Kalaiti Jephthah, (Secretary, Niger Delta Ex-agitators Leadership Forum, Bayelsa State Chapter), called on all security agencies across the country and the general public not to have any dealings with those suspended in the name of the forum.
The forum also appealed to the President of Nigeria, Senator Bola Tinubu, not to encourage the actions of Maj. Gen. Ndiomu because he continuously displayed signs that he lacks the capacity to handle an important intervention agency such as the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), which has recently turned into a cash cow.
They said, “We wish to notify the general public from all walks of life, especially of the Niger Delta region and the Nigerian nation at large, to be aware of what is happening at the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) office under Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), the Interim Administrator (IA).
“We believe that our persistent calls for the suspension and possible arrest of the IA Gen. Barry Ndiomu must have gotten to most investors, IOCs, government security agencies, Captains of industries, concerned elders of the region, and other stakeholders who must have been observing, overheating, or even reading with keen interest from publications and counter publications, the complicated picture questioning both peace and security gains and the narrative of a blow to regional peace and development.
“We are sounding it like a loud drum in an open field that an Administration like the one we have today in the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government, willing to talk and genuinely try to respond to the needs of its people, will have that light snuffed out if the likes of Maj. Gen. Barry Ndiomu are allowed to stand in the way of an intervention agency of government as sensitive as the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
“We had declared earlier that a drowning man holds on to anything regardless, which is why we believe Gen. Ndiomu has stooped so low with his divide-and-rule tactics, aimed to plunge us into killing ourselves and disrupting public peace while he holds on to his position as IA of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, marred in incompetence, misappropriation, gross abuse of office playing out his dominant initiative to deliberately distort the peace alliance sustained before his arrival in Presidential Amnesty Office Oct 2022.
“It didn’t come to us as a surprise when the notable figure of our forum, Gen God-gift Ayabowei, made the confessional statement during a disciplinary hearing held in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State Capital on Monday 7th Aug 2023, stating how he was contacted by Gen. Barry Ndiomu through his anti-peace agents in the likes of Gen. HENRY BINIDODOGHA aka Gen. Egbema 1, an Ex-militant leader from Edo State and Gen. Nature Kieghe Dumale, another ex-militant leader from Rivers State.
‘The instructions were for him, (Gen. God-Gift Ayabowei) to create a parallel leadership of the forum in Bayelsa State to distort the forum, with what seemed like a juicy promise for due recognition, funding, and unhindered access to the Interim Administrator, thereby jeopardising the positive objectives of the Gen. Charles Kurobo James led EXCO in Bayelsa, as they have succeeded with genuine Ex-agitators’ leaderships in other States of the region.
“In summary, Gen. Ayabowei added that his primary mandate Gen. Ndiomu, was for him to counter every raised question about the maladministration of PAP under him especially in the areas of benefits and entitlements due to Ex-agitators’ besides the monthly stipends, which he (Ayabowei) had already demonstrated with a counter publication on 4th August 2023.
“In the same vain, Gen. Bull Ebitei Ifiemi and Gen. Gilbert Isobo aka Gen. Tallest, both of the Leadership Forum Bayelsa State were also found culpable of double standard and while both Gen. Ayabowei Godgift and Gen. Bull Ebitei Ifiemi were suspended from the forum for a one year period which is (12 months) period effective from 7th August 2023 to 20th of August 2024, as deemed fit by the disciplinary procedure, Gen. Tallest was lucky to get off with a fine and a warning.
“We deemed it necessary to alert and further appeal to the NSA, CDS, CNC, DSS, IGP, NSCDC, OPDS, AIG-Zone 16, and 16 Brigade (Camp Buratai) Yenagoa and the general public that following the disciplinary hearing, the forum had unanimously resolved and suspended Gen. God-gift Ayabowei and Gen. Bull Ebitei Ifiemi from the Ex-agitators’ Leadership Forum Bayelsa State Chapter and advice the above-mentioned agencies and whatsoever Authority that any person or group of persons, organization(s) or agency doing business with or engaging them in any social, physical, political, economic or security matters will be doing so devoid of the Ex-agitators’ Leadership Forum, Bayelsa State Chapter.”
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