The Ijaw Youths Council and ex-militant leaders in the Niger Delta have taken a swipe at the Senate Public Account Committee over its threats to issue a bench warrant on officials of the Presidential Amnesty Programme including its interim administrator, Col. Milland Dikio (retd.).
The PUNCH had reported that the Senate Committee on Public Account led by Senator Matthew Urhogbide had resolved to issue a warrant of arrest against Dikio following his failure to honour its invitation to account for N10bn meant for the programme.
The IYC expressed surprise that the committee claimed that the warrant was to compel Dikio to appear before it to explain an alleged N10bn unaccounted for by the Amnesty office contained in Auditor-General’s report of 2018.
The Chairman, IYC Abuja branch, Adam Marbo, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Port Harcourt on Monday, described the stance of the Senate committee as a witch-hunt, saying the IYC was amazed that the report referred to by the committee was based on transactions that occurred in 2015 fiscal year.
He said the transaction and the audit report took place years before Dikio was appointed as the interim administrator of the scheme.
He said, “We can recall that Dikio was appointed towards the end of 2020. What the Senate is investigating is a transaction that occurred in the Amnesty Office in 2015, but was mentioned in the Auditor-General’s report of 2018.
“The matter does not concern Dikio at all. Why will the Senate Committee become so fixated on Dikio that it descended to the arena of desperation with the threat of a bench warrant?
Similarly, ex-militant leaders in a statement signed by Chairman, First Phase Ex-Agitators, Henry Binidodogha; and Chief Andabafa Namah, called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to hold the Senate responsible should there be any glitch in the relative peace being experienced in the Niger Delta.
The statement read in part, “We want to say that this move (inviting Dikio or arresting him) is capable of causing a breakdown of law and order in the Niger Delta region.
“We have never seen anyone manage this Amnesty Programme since its inception as Col. Dikio has done. And so we see the invitation of the Senate as a witch-hunt because the matter happened in 2018 and as then Dikio was not in charge of the programme.
“Even with the malfeasance he met, he has not blamed anybody or accused anyone, but has been working seriously, transforming the programme and affecting lives of the people positively, particularly the beneficiaries of the presidential amnesty scheme.”
