Alleged N100m Amnesty Fraud: INYC takes a swipe at Rita Lori

The Itsekiri National Youth Council, INYC has taken a swipe at prominent Itsekiri Chief and Rights’ activist, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, describing statements credited to her that the executive of the apex Itsekiri youth body received and pocketed N100 million from the Office of the SA to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs as evidence of someone who has made “herself a tool in the hands of anti-progressive forces.”

The Itsekiri apex youth body which was incorporated in 2013 under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as Itsekiri Natives Youth Council, INYC accused those working with Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor of being “the forces that frustrated the participation of Itsekiri in the amnesty program and delayed it by at least 3 years, reducing the number of beneficiaries by at least 10 times.”

At a press briefing held Friday June 27 at Esisi Road in Warri, INYC noted that it did not forcefully make deductions from the monthly stipends of the 500 Itsekiri beneficiaries, stressing that it “drew lessons from the challenges of the other ethnic groups under the scheme hence it met with the potential beneficiaries as they then were and agreed that an administrative charge of 19% be made on the stipends that they are entitled to so as to provide educational support for other sons and daughters of Itsekiri who might not be as lucky as the beneficiaries.”

Some beneficiaries of amnesty programme of Itsekiri extraction, Newsmen & some Exco members of INYC

The INYC statement which was read by Legal Adviser of the body, Barr. Robinson Ariyo on behalf of its National Chairman, Hon. David Tonwe also claimed that since it “refused to allow them (i.e its detractors) reduce the amnesty program to the likes of the Pipeline Surveillance and Security Program, Security Allocation Scheme under the Delta State Oil Production Areas Development Commission , DESOPADEC, they have decided to embark on this massive scale of rumor peddling and unfortunately, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor has swallowed their bait hook line and sinker.”

While declaring that the INYC is till date the highest donor to the Itsekiri Educational Trust Fund, the Itsekiri apex youth body admitted that the 500 slots allocated to Itsekiri compared to 27,000 for Ijaw is grossly insufficient and averred that “the member representing Warri Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Hon. Daniel Reyenieju, the leadership of INYC managed to secure the participation of the Itsekiris in the program against all odds.”

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