November 09, (THEWILL) – The attention of the Presidential Amnesty program (PAP) has been drawn to a fictitious story making the rounds, about a planned sale of thousands of empowerment kits, vehicles and other sundry items, which were purchased for beneficiaries of the PAP.
A statement signed by Thomas Peretu, SA to the Interim Administrator, said, “We wish to unequivocally state that the report which describes the planned sale as fraudulent, is false in its entirety and should be totally disregarded because it is a product of mischief makers, who are bent on tarnishing the image the Interim Administrator, Maj-Gen Ndiomu.
“We at the PAP are only responding to this spurious allegation because silence can sometimes be mistaken for consent and we wish to set the record straight.
“For the avoidance of doubt, that licenced government auctioneers advertised unneeded assets such as old vehicles in national dailies and that is the standard procedure for legally disposing of federal property that is no longer needed, noting that disposing of assets occur from time to time, as it has nothing to do with the winding down process that the IA was initially responsible for managing.
“It is strange and disappointing that those who are attacking the IA purely because he was appointed to wind down the PAP, have chosen to ignore the fact that he has subsequently been able to persuade the Federal government to rescind this decision and allow the program to continue, stressing that similar exercise has been carried out last September when PAP disposed of its unserviceable assets in Portharcourt branch office, where nobody raised an eyebrow, as it is noteworthy that government regulations require that the disposable items must be over five years or the assets must be severely defective and that would cost more to repair or maintain those items. But above all, the regulations require that the auction must be advertised and the PAP management intends to abide strictly by these guiding regulations.
He further added that the IA had no input in the decision to auction these unserviceable items, as management had taken this decision after due consultations with relevant agencies long before the appointment of Maj- Gen Ndiomu.
“It is wicked and outrageous to assume that Maj-Gen Ndiomu engineered the present auction for selfish reasons. Nothing can be farther from the truth. Fortunately, he is not deterred by the barrage of unfounded allegations that have been directed against him and will continue to work closely with stakeholders in the Niger Delta to sustain peace and promote development in the region.”
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