They described Ndiomu, the leader of the PAP, as trying to undermine their demands for better welfare by sponsoring a parallel executive. This effort was seen as another indication that Ndiomu’s continued tenure in office poses a threat to the peace that the Niger Delta region currently enjoys.

High Chief Hon. Gen. Charles Kurobo James, the Chairman of the Niger Delta Ex-agitators’ Leadership Forum, First Phase, Bayelsa State Chapter, and Chief Kalaiti Jephthah, the Secretary of the Niger Delta Ex-agitators Leadership Forum, Bayelsa State Chapter, spoke on behalf of the forum during a press conference and urged all security agencies nationwide and the public to refrain from doing business with those who have been suspended in the forum’s name.

We think that most investors, IOCs, government security agencies, captains of industries, concerned elders of the region, and other stakeholders must have heard our repeated calls for the suspension and potential arrest of IA Gen. Barry Ndiomu. They must have been watching, fuming, or even reading with keen interest from publications and counterpublications, the complex picture questioning both peace and security gains and the narrative of a blow to regional peace and development.

We are making it clear, as loud as a drum, that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government, which is a willing and sincere effort to listen to its constituents, will lose its brightness if individuals such as Major General Barry Ndiomu are permitted to obstruct a government intervention program as delicate as the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).