The President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof Benjamin Okaba, has denied claims that his recent visit to the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro, was intended to endorse the PAP boss and undermine other executive members of the INC.
The President of the INC, Prof. Okaba, frowned in a statement at an announcement by a Niger Delta group known as Project Niger Delta (PND), which criticised him for the visit, noting that the outburst is unfortunate, malicious, and not in the best interest of the Ijaw Nation.
While addressing newsmen in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the INC President said that contrary to reports that the apex Ijaw group endorsed the PAP boss, the visit to Otuaro was not a private visit, and neither did the body endorse Otuaro at the visit.
The Nigerian Tribune learned that the PND had faulted media reports credited to the Special Assistant on Media to PAP Administrator, Igoniko Oduma, that the President of INC, Professor Benjamin Okaba, commended and openly endorsed Dr Denis Otuaro.
According to a statement signed by Princewill Ebebi, Executive Director and Coordinator of Project Niger Delta, obtained by the Nigerian Tribune, the PND stated that Prof. Okaba did not inform any of his executive members before going ahead to endorse Dr Otuaro.
But Okaba, while reacting to the statement by PND, said the visit to the PAP boss in Abuja was not planned but a visit to an Ijaw brother by his Ijaw brothers, adding that it has no bearing on the incoming scheduled visit to the PAP office by the INC executives.
Okaba said that rather than trying to cause dissatisfaction among the ethnic nationalities, those criticising the visit should see the positives from the meeting, as lots of developmental initiatives, including the planned visit by INC executives, were discussed.
He said, “In fact, I even called the publicity secretary when I was with the amnesty boss. I told him that I was here with the amnesty boss and even spoke with him, but he is now masterminding the thing because he did not follow me.
“We cannot keep this low because it is not good for the Ijaw image; it is also not good for the amnesty boss because somebody is saying that he is self-acclaimed, someone sitting in an office. We didn’t go there to endorse anybody; if there is any contention, that is when you want to endorse, so endorsement is way out of it.
“The visit was never planned; the amnesty engagement with the entire executive is still intact and will come up in a short while, and the president did not go there to talk about himself or his endorsement; there was no endorsement because there was no need for any endorsement.
“It is mischievous for anyone who is in tune with the operations of the INC to conceive and say that the President and his cohorts endorsed the SA/Coordinator of the PAP. There are no known rivals or contestants among the President and other NEC members since the appointment of the present occupant of the office.
“Is the grouse and unwarranted attack by this group (PND) and their sponsors premised on the absence of some NEC members or that Dr Otuaro has not been appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu?”
Prof. Okaba insisted that he went to the PAP office on the invitation of the PAP boss, who learned that he was in Abuja on a national assignment and that his visit was not official, as claimed in the statement by the PND.
He said to show his transparency, he took along some INC members who were already in Abuja and elder statesman, Prof. Steve Azaiki, on the visit, saying that the impact of the meeting is already having positive signs and trickling down to the INC executives.
While calling on members of the public to disregard the statement by the PND, he called on those working against the interests of the Ijaws for their own selfish purposes to desist from de-marketing the Ijaw nations.
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