The Ijaw Youths Network (IYN) has raised concerns over what it described as a coordinated smear campaign against the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro.
The group accused unnamed mischief makers and their sponsors of spreading false allegations of financial misconduct against the PAP boss in a bid to discredit him.
In a statement on Friday signed by its President and Secretary, Frank Ebikabo and Federal Ebiaridor, the IYN specifically called out a group, the “Niger Delta Liberators and Ex-Agitators Forum (NGLEF),” which recently alleged that Otuaro had engaged in fraudulent disbursement of funds and awarded contracts to inactive and unregistered companies.
The NGLEF, through one Odey Otunu, further claimed that the PAP administrator had approved N50 billion for a company that lacked legal standing in Nigeria.
The IYN stated that Otuaro was appointed in March 2024 and had embarked on payment of scholarships, stakeholder engagements, vocational training of delegates and others.
It, therefore, wondered where he got N50bn to pay a non-existent company as wildly claimed by the fictitious group, cautioning those behind the campaign of calumny against Otuaro to note that everybody cannot be the administrator of PAP at the same.
Dismissing these allegations as baseless, the IYN stated that its independent investigations revealed that the claims were fabricated to tarnish Otuaro’s reputation and disrupt the ongoing reforms in the PAP.
The group also linked the latest attack to the same individuals behind a protest against the PAP administrator at the United Nations headquarters in New York last December. It alleged that the smear campaign is being fueled by vested interests who are disturbed by Otuaro’s refusal to turn the PAP into a conduit for financial mismanagement.
Since assuming office in 2024, Otuaro has been credited with significant reforms, including the expansion of the PAP scholarship scheme and the introduction of new vocational training programmes designed to bridge the skills gap in the Niger Delta.
Describing the attack as pathetic, the IYN urged stakeholders to disregard the allegations and instead support the ongoing transformation of the PAP under Otuaro’s leadership.
The statement from IYN reads: “It has come to the notice of the Ijaw Youths Network that some mischief makers and their sponsors are bent on pulling down the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro, by dishing out lies of financial impropriety against him to deceive members of the public and the government.
“The latest of such campaigns against the PAP administrator is by a suspicious group that styles itself as ‘Niger Delta Liberators and Ex-Agitators Forum (NGLEF).’ The group which is without any digital imprint, and appeared to have been founded with the sole aim of smearing Dr Otuaro claimed in some reports that the PAP Administrator ‘does not observe due process and that he engages in fraudulent disbursement of public funds to his proteges.’
“The group, through one Odey Otunu, also claimed among others that the PAP Administrator “approved and disbursed funds to the tune of N50 billion to “an inactive and unregistered company in the country.” This is pathetic!
“The Ijaw Youths Network has taken time to investigate the malicious allegations by the group and can say with a high degree of certainty that these allegations are mere fabrications cooked up to distract Dr Otuaro, who has taken deliberate steps to reposition the PAP.
“The wild claim against Dr Otuaro can only make meaning to those who are deep into the mischief of peddling lies against him. Dr Otuaro was appointed in March 2024 and the PAP under him has undertaken many bold programmes in the area of the ongoing scholarship scheme, vocational training, stakeholder engagements. So where did he get N50 billion to give to a non-existent company? The claim is both ridiculous and ludicrous.
“We know as a fact the so-called NGLEF lied when it claimed that the PAP boss does not follow due process and that the Administrator approves and disburses funds to “an inactive and unregistered company”. Our finding reveals that contrary to the falsehoods peddled by the group, the Office of the PAP Administrator only deals with registered and active firms. It is therefore laughable for the group to allege the contrary.
“Since assuming office in 2024, the PAP Administrator, Dr Otuaro has proven to be a prudent manager of funds, and has followed due process in the management of the affairs of the Programme.
“It is clear from the ill-advised attack on the PAP Administrator that the strange group and their sponsors are the same people who orchestrated a protest against him in front of the United Nations building in New York last December, which we responded to.
“We discovered that the major grouse of this newfound group and their sponsors is that the PAP Administrator has refused to pander to their request to make the PAP Office a cash cow after a comprehensive review of the Programme under his focused leadership, which led him to stop payments of suspicious contracts. That is probably their motivation for the unwarranted attacks, and the campaign of calumny against the competent administrator.
“We believe the PAP administrator deserves commendations for the latest strides of the agency, especially the expansion of the Programme’s scholarship scheme to a historic level, the engagement of numerous vocational training programmes within and outside Nigeria to bridge the skills gap in the Niger Delta.”
