‘Review PAP, Don’t Scrap It’ – Rights Group Backs Otuaro, Rejects Forensic Audit

Rita Enemuru, Reporting

A human rights and anti-corruption body has called on the Federal Government to resist any move to terminate the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), insisting that a review – not abolition – is the only sustainable path forward.

The Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade (CHURAC) threw its weight behind PAP Administrator Chief (Dr.) Dennis Otuaro on Sunday, urging critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta to rally round his leadership.

In a statement signed by its Board of Trustees Chairman, Alaowei Cleric Ebikonbowei, Esq., CHURAC argued that the Niger Delta’s current relative peace is directly attributable to the amnesty programme.

“The Niger Delta region is undoubtedly the most peaceful in Nigeria, and that is because of the operation of the PAP,” the statement read. “If the region is peaceful, then the programme has been successful. And if the programme is making progress, it also means Chief Dennis Otuaro is doing excellently well in office.”

The group described the PAP as the “life-wire” to peace and stability in the oil-rich region, as well as the nation’s petrol-dollar economy. While conceding that the programme has largely achieved its original aims, CHURAC insisted that “ending it is not an option”.

“Nigeria cannot afford another layer of insecurity on top of its already overwhelmed challenges elsewhere in the country,” the statement added.

Rejection of forensic audit

CHURAC pushed back strongly against suggestions – reportedly advanced by lawyer Barr. Robinson Ariyo – that a forensic audit of the PAP is required, along with claims of human rights abuses within the programme.

The group noted that the PAP is an interventionist security programme operating under the National Security Adviser (NSA), and that its activities are already “monitored and scrutinised” by that office.

“If there were any human rights abuses, the NSA would have been informed by Nigerians,” CHURAC said. “We have followed events under Chief Dennis Otuaro and have seen no act or omission by the Administrator or his associates connected to abuse of office, human rights violations or corrupt practices.”

The centre described Otuaro’s tenure as “one of the best amongst occupiers of that coveted office”, arguing that what the PAP actually needs is a legislative framework to codify it as a permanent interventionist agency for human capacity building.

In a notable appeal, CHURAC asked President Bola Tinubu to extend the Administrator’s tenure beyond 2027, saying “one good turn deserves another”.

The group praised the President for what it called “the right choice” in appointing Dr Otuaro to manage the sensitive office at a critical time, adding that he has taken the PAP “to an enviable height”.

“Critical stakeholders in the region must queue behind the Administrator to deliver its goals,” the statement concluded. “Niger Delta people should push for the codification of the PAP as an interventionist agency.”

Neither the Presidency nor the PAP Administrator had responded to the group’s calls at the time of going to press.