[BREAKING] Amnesty: Ndiomu visits Tompolo, seeks end to PAP

The Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Maj-Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd), weekend, visited ex-warlord, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo in his Gbaramatu’s country home, Warri South West Local Government Area, Delta State.

The visit, which the Vanguard gathered was in continuation of an ongoing consultation by Ndiomu with critical stakeholders on his new mandate for PAP to discuss the future of the program and how to systematically bring it to its termination stage.

He commended Tompolo for his recent feat in the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to his company by the federal government.

Ndiomu who paid homage to the Pere of Gbaramatu, HRM King Williams Ogoba Oboro Gbaraun II, at his palace, said he was on a familiarization tour to the kingdom to intimate stakeholders on the new directive of the government about the amnesty programme.

He said: “I do not want to go into too many details for want of time. But I want to assure His Royal Majesty that I will come back within a few weeks, because we are returning again for proper, much more comprehensive stakeholders consultations.

“I’m pleading that we will be inviting His Royal Majesty to also participate, so that there will be contributions from the palace, and we can together articulate a position which we will present to the government to further improve what we want in terms of our demands, for our people.

“If you recall, when the programme itself was put in place the objective was for it to have terminated in 2015 but it has gone beyond 2015. And so the thinking of the government is that we have to refocus and redirect the programme in such a way that we’ll move towards the final termination, in a very systematic manner.

“Since I assumed office in the last month and a couple of weeks or so, I have found out myself that a lot of things are wrong with the programme. Without any doubt, the programme has completely derailed from the purpose for which it was established and as I speak to you, there are many people who are not even Niger Deltans that have been awarded scholarships.

“We cannot allow this to continue and it is for these reasons and more that I believe the government is saying no, this programme has lost its focus let us all sit together.

“So that is why they’ve asked me to have consultations with the people of the Niger Delta, we sit together and tell ourselves the truth, has it really served the interest of our people, what do we propose collectively as an alternative, as something better, which we have to take back to the government and say, this is how we want this programme to go that will be beneficial to the interest of our people”.

In his remarks, HRM King Williams Ogoba Oboro Gbaraun II congratulated Ndiomu on his appointment. He, however, held that the amnesty programme had derailed from its original idea.

While urging him to do what was right for the interest of the people and the region, he said; “we all know the amnesty programme has a history, let’s start from somewhere, and it’s moving, it’s deviating from the right part. We all know the amnesty programme is deviating from the right part. We want you to be firm, stand firm.

“This visit is a familiarisation one. We have a lot to say, but the time is little, so we also ask for your second visit, so that we will discuss at length because there are many things that we have to discuss for the benefit and the peace of Niger Delta”.