Boroh: Corrupt APC Elements In Buhari’s Govt Influence My Sack

LAGOS APRIL 16TH (NEWSRANGERS)- Brig-Gen Paul Boroh (rtd), former Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, has alleged that his sack was influenced by corrupt APC elements in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Boroh, notable officials in the government wanted him to share “the spoils of office” among them.
Despite his unceremonious exit from the Amnesty Office, he insisted he had no regrets working in Buhari’s administration, noting that his impact was felt in the Niger Delta.
He cited the relative peace in the zone as part of his achievements.
The former amnesty boss disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on Sunday.
He said: “When one is heading an intervention programme like the Presidential Amnesty Programme, you meet with the good, bad, and ugly.
“Not everyone was happy about my modest achievements in office.
“A few days before I left office I was always re-echoing it that the Presidential Amnesty Programme was not a political programme where you share money out to people.
“You know the president’s stance on corruption, and this did not go down well with so many people who felt they were entitled to resources meant for the rehabilitation of ex-agitators.
“So those protesters you saw were the brainchild of our detractors.
“I was appointed to deliver, and that was what I did during my time as coordinator of PAP.”
President Buhari replaced Boroh on March 13 with Prof. Charles Quaker Dokubo, a seasoned researcher with the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).
The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had in 2009 initiated the Presidential Amnesty Programme to appease militants in the Niger Delta, most of who were at the time destroying oil installations in their domain.
Their actions remarkably affected the country’s oil production levels and created financial difficulties for the government.
Boroh maintained that he succeeded in convincing beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme not to go into the creeks to vandalise pipelines, a situation that brought a lot of stability in the economy.
While reacting to his sack, he said he had prepared for his exit from office right from the first day of assuming his former position.
On his impact in service, he said the amnesty programme during his tenure designed a farming model that provided 5,000 sustainable jobs in the region, including academic programmes that deployed over 1,294 delegates to various universities in Nigeria.
He said he recorded more than 700 graduates with 14 of them graduating in First Class and 84 in Second Class Upper Division.
He added that one of the private universities, Benson Idahosa University, had retained four of the first class graduates as lecturers.
During the period under review, the Amnesty Office empowered over 1,453 delegates with various starter-packs, including shop rents, while 966 of them were taken through refresher training.
On the $9 million allegedly found in his private residence by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he said the anti-graft agency was merely acting out a script given to them by Buhari’s men.

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