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An ex-militant leader and the Mayor of Urhoboland, His Excellency, Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a Akpodoro has congratulated the newly appointed Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu, (rtd.), stressing that, the appointment of the retired army chief was well deserved and seen as a call to service of fatherland.

Akpodoro made this known in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Ughelli, Delta State, South-South Nigeria, Friday, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari, was painstaking in his choice of the Sagbama-born military chief as he commended the President for his decision describing the sack of the former Amnesty boss, Nixon Dikkio, as the end of an era which he noted is the dawn of a new beginning while he expressed hope that Gen. Ndiomu will surely take the administration to a new height building upon the legacy of his predecessor.

He stressed further that the PAP needs a personality who is vast in the security of lives and property of citizens and with the zeal for national solidarity and ethos all of which he noted that the newly appointed Interim Administrator have sufficiently and with the heart of a statesman who doesn’t pander to primordial sentiments and for this he said Ndiomu will succeed in his new assignment.

The Urhobo-born ex-militant leader wants the new Administrator to look deeper into issues concerning ex-militants and persons in the Niger Delta region with a view to righting the wrongs of the past adding that, the issue of slots to beneficiaries have always being on the front burner for a long time and this, he assured that Gen. Ndiomu have administrative capacity to resolve amicably.

The Mayor advocates equitable spread of opportunities to all ex-militants without preferential treatment whatsoever saying every ethnic nationality who make up the bulk of the beneficiaries of the programme must be carried along for peace and tranquility in the region.

Mayor Akpodoro is one of the major ex-militant leaders in the forefront of fostering and entrenching peace in the Delta region and one of the pillars of the PAP who advocates transparent and credible leadership in administration of the intervention agency for optimal productivity.

The issues that necessitated the arm struggle in the Delta region the Mayor noted still pervade the region notably; poverty, illiteracy, environmental degradation, youth unemployment, pollution and low life expectancy adding that the Federal government should fund the the programme to achieve its aims and objectives as envisaged by the initiators of the PAP.

He called on General Ndiomu to hit the ground running in his efforts at repositioning the programme for the betterment of all, saying, he should replicate his success in his meritorious service to the nation while in the military in his new administration and management of the programme describing it a peculiar terrain that needs wisdom and knowledge and understanding while wishing him success at the fullness of time.

“We congratulate the newly appointed Amnesty boss and we wish him success in his new national assignment. He must see his appointment as a call to serve all Niger deltans and Nigerians alike.

“Ndiomu’s appointment is a responsibility bestowed on him by the alchemy that make heroes of mortal men and for this reason, he must realise the need to serve all equitably without let or hindrance so that at the fullness of time, the people of the Niger Delta will see him as a man for all and his name shall be written in the sand of time as an achiever who brought his people out of the woods in that capacity,” the Mayor maintained.