Skip to main content

Amnesty Programme: Ex-Militant Leaders Petition National Security Adviser Over Alleged ₦12Billion Fraud, Seek Suspension, Arrest Of Interim Administrator, Ndiomu

Amnesty Programme: Ex-Militant Leaders Petition National Security Adviser Over Alleged ₦12Billion Fraud, Seek Suspension, Arrest Of Interim Administrator, Ndiomu
January 15, 2023

The Amnesty office is led by Interim Administrator, Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.) and some senior civil servants.

Some ex-militant leaders from the nine states of the Niger Delta region have raised the alarm over an alleged systematic and criminal diversion of funds allocated to the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) by officials of the Amnesty office.

The Amnesty office is led by Interim Administrator, Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.) and some senior civil servants.

The coalition of ex-militant leaders, in a petition dated January 15, 2023 and addressed to the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Babagana Monguno (rtd.), alleged that Ndiomu, his aides and some officials of the Amnesty office had been involved in graft in the Presidential Amnesty Programme since September 2022.

The aides were identified as Mr. Ado Dikko – Director Finance and Admin (DFA) and Mr. Simone Omachoko – Director of Procurement (DP).

The petition by the ex-militant leaders, which was signed by Boma Inewariku, Gabriel Atumani Victor and James Ebiaredei Collins asked Monguno to immediately recommend the urgent suspension of Ndiomu as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme to the President.

It said in his place, the government should appoint the most senior civil servant to take over the running and administration of the Presidential Amnesty Programme pending the outcome of the investigation against the Interim Administration.

The petition, which was backed with a monogram of alleged fraud and names of high ranking officials of the Presidential Amnesty office involved, claimed that “Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd.) asked his subordinates for ways of getting money from the Amnesty office coffers by all means and that he Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd.) solicited from his two aids: Mr. Ado Dikko – Director Finance and Admin (DFA) and Mr. Simone Omachoko – Director of Procurement (DP), how to perpetrate a heist of N500m (Five Hundred Million Naira).”

“He reiterated to these officials that he paid monies to get his appointment as Interim Administrator and that he needed to raise back his fund; merely 3 days after his appointment on the 15th September, 2022. That later in a separate meeting with his Administration Director (DA): Ms. Khalimat Balogun – a childhood friend solicited the same as paragraph 2, she convinced him to hire 2 of his predecessor’s close aides, of which one of them had been terminated for gross misconduct.

“He is one Flt. Lt. Terry Ajobena (rtd.), and he was reinstated as the Technical Adviser (TA), and the other Mr. Wilfred Musa -Head of Reintegration (HOR). So that her own end can be covered by the duo – Wilfred Musa (HOR) and Flt. Lt. Terry Ajobena (rtd.) TA.

“That at the inception of this administration, there was N600M (Six hundred million naira) in the coffers of the office. If not for graft or embezzlement, an interim administrator with a mandate to wind down an office in 6 months, should not be procuring new vehicles under any guise if not for the huge fraudulent markup masterminded by Maj. Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd.) and operationalised DP – Mr. Simone Omachoko and his team, Gotham Edwards -a retired procurement officer who has been converted to a consultant staff to continue in his fraudulent activities; and Jide Odofin- a level 9 procurement officer – who cooks up the files for fraudulent payment – the trio are the ‘procurement mafias’.

“Then the DA: Mrs. Khalimat Balogun and her team, Flt. Lt. Terry Ajobena – TA and Wilfred Musa - HOR. This was the beginning of the fastest heist in the Presidential Amnesty Programme’s history.

“That kickbacks were made from the vehicle purchase of over N150M (One hundred and fifty million naira) from DP’s and DA’s team. The PVs are there for your records. The duo of Ado Dikko and Simone Omachoko advised him to appoint an independent aid to be in charge of the heist coordination since they are civil servants, but they are willing to facilitate the process for him and look at other loopholes in the system he can take advantage of.

“The duo firstly advised the new Interim Administrator – to increase the security vote that had been newly reviewed upward by his predecessors – Col. Miland Dixon Dikkio (rtd.) from N30M (Thirty million naira) to N50M (Fifty million naira), so it was further reviewed upward by the Interim Administrator -Gen. Ndiomu (rtd.) to N80m (Eighty million naira) without following any upward review process. The embezzlement dice was cast from that moment onward.

“On the duo’s advice, Gen. Barry Ndiomu (rtd.) appointed one Lt. Col. S. S Ringim (rtd.) as special adviser logistics (SA Logistics) who now champions the heist and the act of facilitating the laundered funds directly through bureau de change operators. That he Lt. Col. S. S. Ringim, facilitates and supervises the laundered funds directly from the accounts department in connivance with the DFA – Ado Dikko, raising payment voucher (PV) credit distribution into various account department officers, ranging from N30M- (Thirty million naira), N40M – Forty million naira), N50M – (Fifty million naira), N60M- (Sixty million naira) and other configuration …., in similar sums.

“Lt. Col. S. S. Ringim (Rtd), knowing that his responsibilities are criminal, but he willfully takes the risk for his appointor – Gen. Ndiomu, who signs all the approvals on all the illegal payments “Advance Payments”. He Lt. Col. S. S. Ringhim (rtd.), pays back all bank charges accrued to the accounting officers whose accounts were used in the graft transactions of naira for naira and kobo for kobo.

“As part of the reward of aiding & abetting the fastest known graft in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, the accounting staff were fully sponsored to attend a training course in Kent- United Kingdom in the week of 21st November 2022. That Gen. Ndiomu (rtd.) also in the same vein appointed one Mr. Inemotimi Angalapele as Special Adviser on stakeholders matters, otherwise called (SA – Stakeholders Matters).

The relationship between Angalapele (SA Stakeholders Matter) and Lt. Col. S. S. Ringim (Rtd)- SA logistics, is that funds already paid to SA Stakeholders matters are also taken as advance/project account. Which is a systematic graft process in “double payment or double accounting” and procedure implemented by Gen. Ndiomu (rtd.).”

It further noted that under the watch of Ndiomu, “a contractor by the name of Ms. Charity Vedelago who claimed to be a big sister to Gen. Ndiomu (rtd.) partnered with the accounting staff who recognises that her supplies files are forged by printing new award letters under the administration of Brig. Gen. Paul T. Boreh (rtd.), former Coordinator on Presidential Amnesty Programme”.

It added, “His signature is forged on the award letters about 20 such files from the same lady, each award letter exchanging monetary value is N99M – (Ninety-nine million naira).

“Also, details of other procurement officers are also forged in the files by GE and JO. Knowing that the files will be asked to be checked by the procurement department for authenticity; to the novice or unsuspecting mind, it looks right after the perfection and cook up, then payment voucher is raised and sent to audit, and the account finalises the graft.”