Protesters against PAP boss are hired street urchins, IYN alleges

The Ijaw Youths Network (IYN) has said that those who blocked the National Assembly on Wednesday to protest against the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) are street urchins assembled by desperate persons from the region.

The IYN urged President Bola Tinubu to ignore the calls by a faceless group, the Niger Delta Liberators and Ex-Agitators Forum (NDLEF), involved in the vanguard of peddling outright falsehood against the PAP boss, Dr Dennis Otuaro.

The group commended the President for his sustained support for the PAP, its leadership and the Niger Delta.

The group said that those behind the protest are enraged by his refusal to open the coffers of the PAP Office to rogues, who are used to swindling previous leaders of the programme through blackmail.
 
The IYN said that its observation of the people wielding placards in protest shows that they are jobless underaged youths from outside the region.

The group condemned the demonstration and described it as a “staged and orchestrated” attempt to blackmail and distract the administrator from his ongoing reforms at the PAP.

In a statement by the President and the Secretary of IYN, Frank Ebikabo and Federal Ebiaridor, on Wednesday, the group advised the President to look carefully and see the falsehood in the NDLEF’s allegations, stressing that they are willing tools in the hands of their sponsors, who are carrying out their selfish agenda.

“We strongly condemn the protest in its entirety. Those behind this mischief and criminal enterprise have registered fake camps to steal funds belonging to the government, and they are not happy that Otuaro’s reforms at the PAP have prevented them from achieving their criminal intentions.
 
“We call on President Bola Tinubu to disregard the Niger Delta Liberators and Ex-Agitators Forum. If the President checks their activities properly, he would see how hollow their allegations sound.
  
“Otuaro will not succumb to cheap blackmail. Their lies fly in the face of cogent reforms being carried out by him. Nigerians are wise enough to see through the nefarious antics of these serial blackmailers whose lies are clearly visible to the discerning mind.”