Anti-graft agencies urged to probe Amnesty office activities

Some staff of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) have called on anti-graft agencies in the country to probe the activities of the office over alleged financial mismanagement.

However, the PAP denied the allegations, saying they are false and baseless.

The stakeholders had also called on the supervisory office, the National Security Adviser, to look into how the N5.4 billion monthly allocation to the office is being spent.

The sources claimed that certain members of staff in the office of the Interim Administrator of the Amnesty Office are being paid huge amounts for welfare.

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A source stated, “Some senior officials receive N15 million and N10m respectively. Also, some aides receive N10m for welfare in the Federal Government agency.”

The sources also urged the Federal Government to investigate the cooperative system of the Amnesty office, claiming N500 million were being removed every month for the system.

They also claimed that workers of the office who have expressed concern over the running of the office have been sent back to the ministries and replaced with newly employed ones.

However, PAP, in a statement by its Senior Assistant on Media, Freston Akpor, said the monies mentioned were clearly a figment of the imagination of the newsmaker who intends to use the media to achieve malicious ends only known to him.

Akpor described the allegations as “not only false but also baseless and a calculated attempt to commence another round of a smear campaign against the Interim Administrator and his dedicated management team by forces from within and outside the office”.

“As a national security programme, the PAP under General Ndiomu has been ethical and above board in discharging its mandate of ensuring peace and stability in the Niger Delta region.

“The PAP, therefore, wishes to call on the security agencies to arrest those spreading falsehood to undermine the peace in the region. The PAP will also not hesitate to bring charges against those who employ such falsehood in order to defame the chief executive and hardworking staff of the Programme,” the statement read in part.