By Dapo Akinrefon
Former militant leaders in the Niger Delta, on Saturday, commended the coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Chief Dennis Otuaro, for interpreting the vision of President Bola Tinubu for the amnesty scheme noting that those attacking Otuaro doing so for selfish reasons.

Pioneer president of the first phase of Former Militants Forum, Pastor Reuben Wilson, who spoke with journalists after their meeting, said they could not fold their hands and watch people run down a man who was doing very well for the amnesty programme.

Noting that they were proud of Otuaro’s efforts in stabilising the PAP and ensuring that beneficiaries of the amnesty programme got their dues as and when due, leaders of the forum said those attacking Otuaro were doing so for selfish reasons.

He said: “The man (Otuaro) is doing very well in the office as the administrator. He has done very well, he has tried. At least he is truly taking the amnesty programme to higher heights. He’s been someone that has been in the struggle.

“100 per cent of his stay in the Niger Delta creeks was for the struggle; so he knows all the (ex-militants camp) leaders by their names. And what he is doing now, we are really happy with it. We have noticed that we have some criminal elements that are trying to bring him down, but we are here to say that their actions will amount to nothing because they are not working in the interest of the amnesty programme.”

Wilson, a major supporter and campaigner for the emergence of President Bola Tinubu also said it was the best decision to appoint Otuaro as head of the amnesty office.

He said it was gratifying to note that Otuaro was already giving proper expression to the president’s dream of a properly managed amnesty office. He said Tinubu must have seen how well Otuaro had managed the amnesty office, insisting that a greater percentage of the stakeholders were very happy with the coordinator.

“We want him (Otuaro) to succeed and if we as major stakeholders say that Otuaro is good and active, that means he is good. We can confirm to the world that the PAP coordinator is doing excellently well. That is why we, in the course of our meeting, decided to pass a vote of confidence on him”, he said.

Wilson said part of the issues Otuaro was having was his decision to close the doors against ghost contractors, who were merely collecting monies but refusing to work.

He said: “There are people who were making millions of naira through the back door.
“So, as Otuaro decided to end that regime, they decided to go against him. Now, there is no way for them to make the money they were making, hence their decision to start cooking up stories in order to rubbish the man. That is all that is playing out.”

Also speaking, Prince Emeka Igwe, the Imo State coordinator of the group said: “Otuaro is trying to change the narrative, he is trying to change the old ways that things were being done and the system is fighting back.

“The SA is reaching out to the grassroots, interfacing with everybody, making sure that those that own the programme will benefit from it; that is what is happening. All of us today passed a vote of confidence on him because of his leadership style. We are very, very happy with him.

“Anywhere we go, we say that he is trying and we want him to do more in this line that he is going, let nothing distract him. Anytime, any day we are with him 100 per cent.”

On his part, the pioneer secretary of the First Phase Ex-agitators in the Niger Delta, Nature Dumale Kieghe said: “Among ex-agitators in the Niger Delta, over time we have been classified as the most responsible, as touching the way we do our things and presentations in different fora.

“We have vowed that we will not bring down any of our own, we took that decision a long time ago, when Kingsley Kuko was special adviser to the president on amnesty. Now we have another administrator, in the person of Dr Dennis Otuaro, who is also our won.”