The Coalition for Peaceful Niger Delta (CPND), said it has very credible information about an orchestrated plot to discredit President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (Rtd).
It warned that the plot might cause fresh tension and security challenges in the Niger Delta.
The CPND in a press release signed by its president, Comrade Keme Ebimie, stated that some unpatriotic citizens of the region have commenced a media assault on Boroh, who is also the Presidential Amnesty Programme coordinator, and some of its principal officers to derail the programme and cause disaffection among its beneficiaries.
The group alleged that some politicians and persons with vested interests along with some former staff of the Amnesty Office have teamed up to discredit Boroh using fictitious and non-existent groups, which spread falsehood and hate campaigns through the social media.
One of such specious groups, Niger Deltans for Accountability and Good Governance (NDAGG), recently petitioned President Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo while he was Acting President, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the Minister of Defence, Chief of Army Staff as well as the Inspector General of Police alleging fraud, corruption and money laundering by Boroh, the Chief Security Officer, Col. Olusegun Ogungbure and two others.
Copies of the petition were also sent to leaders of the United States of America, Britain, Germany, France and Canada through their embassies and high commissions in Nigeria calling for revocation of their visas.
The group fingered a prominent chief, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Warri, Delta State, two former militant leaders from Rivers and Bayelsa states, and some of their foot soldiers as being behind the fresh push to unseat Boroh.
“The reason for the petitions and media attack is simply to discredit Boroh so that they can place one of their own in that office if he is removed.
“Having failed with the petition to the Presidency, other arms of government and the embassies, they have commenced a self-serving, negative media campaign against the man,” Ebimie said.
He wondered how an office that is grappling with serious underfunding challenges could be accused of misappropriation when there is little or no funds to run its operations.
“We are aware that the Amnesty Office is being deliberately underfunded by the government. All the bogus budgetary figures are only bandied in the media and by Boroh’s traducers.
“The reality is that not more than N7.5billion has been released to the Amnesty Office since the beginning of 2017. So how did it misappropriate N70billion that the petitioners claim? Such humongous figures can only be found in the wicked imagination of the false accusers.”
The group further said despite the fact of its poor funding, the Amnesty Office has paid the tuition of its offshore scholarship delegates up to July 2017 and is currently paying two months arrears of stipends to all former agitators and beneficiaries in the programme.
It said what Boroh requires is support and commendation for successfully sustaining the programme and for the agricultural revolution training it has engendered in the Niger Delta.