This is just as the group accused Ndiomu of conniving with the All Progressive Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate,Timipre Sylva of plotting to illegally insert the name of his running mate, Joshua Maciver, a convicted sea pirate, terrorist, and jail-breaker into the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) database in exchange for Ndiomu to be named the substantive PAP boss.
Justifying its demand for Ndiomu’s sack, the group alleged that the retired Army General out of agency’s N65bn annual budget for 2023, “about N23bn was spent in paying the 30,000 ex-militants monthly entitlements, approximately N13bn for education, about N7bn for recurrent expenditures, and over N20bn allegedly spent in paying fraudulent non-existent contracts to his cronies” adding that “Ndiomu is conniving with Timipre Sylva and Joshua Maciver to illegally and fraudulently insert Maciver’s name into the Amnesty database.”
It would be recalled that MacIver was recently engulfed in controversy
over his conviction and involvement in jailbreak after he was – allegedly convicted by an honorable court and was sent to Kaduna State to serve his 10 years sentence for sea piracy and terrorism.
The record of conviction ordinarily makes Maciver ineligible to contest the November 11 governorship election.
The group further notified the Commander-in-Chief as well as the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu of the alleged attempt to commit forgery, perjury, and contempt of court by Gen. Ndiomu.
“Maciver was never a fighter for the people, he was a convicted sea pirate and terrorist, he escaped from prison in 2006 and was already out of the creeks in late 2007 and early 2008 hiding in Bayelsa Government House with Timipre Sylva the then Governor, when Amnesty had not been proclaimed, for fear of being rearrested and returned to prison,” the group said.
In the letter addressed to President Tinubu signed by the Public Relations Officer, Ezra Areo, the group noted that “Maciver has over the years publicly claimed to have accepted the Amnesty programme, however, he never presented himself for proper documentation like the 30,000 Amnesty beneficiaries to the Presidential Amnesty team. Maciver was not alone in this reasoning as over 10,000 ex-agitators felt the same way.
“It is common knowledge that sometimes on the 25th of June 2009, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Late Musa Yar’adua issued Amnesty Proclamation wherein he granted amnesty to Niger-Delta Militants. It is also important to state that Amnesty is usually and generally, addressed to classes or even communities wherein it allows the government of a Nation or State to ‘forget’ criminal acts, usually before prosecution has occurred. Amnesty has traditionally been used as a political tool of compromise and reunion following a war, in which offenses are usually politically inclined.
“In the case of Joshua Maciver, he was allegedly convicted by a competent court of jurisdiction sometime in 2006, for murder and terrorism and is an alleged fugitive whose conviction has no relation with militancy activity. Therefore, the amnesty proclamation of 2009 cannot operate to serve as a pardon for the conviction of the offenses committed by Joshua Maciver, who is not in any way associated with militant activities in the Niger-Delta.
“At this juncture, it is imperative to understand the difference between amnesty and pardon. While amnesty is targeted towards a group of people for forgetfulness of offenses of political nature, pardon seeks to set aside the punishment of an individual, for a criminal who has been tried and convicted. By the amnesty Proclamation made on the 29th of June, 2009, the same does not in any way seek to pardon or forget the conviction and sentencing of any individual however called.”
The group also accused Maciver of forgery of Federal Government documents. He was alleged to have forged a Presidential Amnesty identification card purportedly issued in August 2009 and numbered BY/B4/007/09.
The group is therefore asking the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to order Maciver’s immediate arrest for alleged forgery.
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