Immediate past Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, and Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, has denied claims that he is lobbying to be retained in that post.
Kuku said in Abuja, weekend, that he had since completed his assignment and moved on and was not in any way trying to stay back after the end of his tenure, as claimed by a group of ex-agitators in the Niger Delta in some newspapers.
Kuku pointed out that there was no way he could have plotted to stay back at the Amnesty office after giving his valedictory address to staff and the media and having clearly stated where he was returning to even before the handing over of baton on May 29, 2015.
He said: “Kuku has not, is not and does not intend to lobby anyone directly or subtly to remain in office beyond what has been provided for under the Nigerian law.
“Having served as a Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, who handed over power to his successor, Muhammadu Buhari, on May 29, 2015, it is inconceivable that Kuku would still be lobbying either President Buhari or anyone in his yet-to-be formed cabinet to stay back as the Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Office.
“There is no truth, whatsoever, in the claim by the so-called ex-agitators that Kuku is lobbying some unnamed top government officials to stay back as Chairman of the PAP.
“Kuku had since made it clear that on completion of his national assignment with President Jonathan, he would be returning to his village in Orogbo Ijaw in Ondo State and accordingly addressed a valedictory press conference in Abuja to say goodbye to those who worked with him and made the PAP a success now being celebrated within and outside Nigeria.
The Niger Delta activist said it was unfortunate for the ex-agitators to make spurious allegations against his person, claiming that none of the allegations was true.
He claimed that having been at the fore-front of the struggle for many years to improve the lot of the Niger Delta and his people, it was uncharitable for some persons seeking cheap publicity to describe him as a stranger to the Niger Delta cause.
