Leadership Training: Group demands sack of Otuaro over alleged exclusion of Itsekiri Ex-agitators

Pro-Itsekiri organization, Warri Youth Council, WYC, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack Dr. Dennis Otuaro as Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, accusing Dr. Otuaro of “demonstrating bias and nepotism in the implementation of the Presidential Programme”, particularly as it relates to alleged exclusion of Itsekiri ex-agitators in the “ongoing Leadership Training for Ex-agitators of Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3.”

The call was contained in an electronic statement sent to Fresh Angle International, Thursday August 8.

The statement, which was credited to the Chairman and National Secretary of Warri Youth Council, Comrade Henry Omajugho and Comrade Jonathan Okotie, respectively, noted: “We are compelled to reiterate our concerns given the lack of response to our several correspondences sent to the office in a bid to address the continuous neglect, marginalization and bias in the implementation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme by Dr. Kingsley Otuaro.

“The Itsekiri Ex-agitators Ethnic Nationality Forum enlisted  in the third phase of the Presidential Amnesty Programme with Uncodes and the Itsekiri National Development Initiative, INDI had on several occasions written to the office to address the marginalization and bias against the Itsekiri nation, but until date, the Dr. Dennis Otuaro has neither responded nor address the bias. 

“Some of the issues of marginalization and bias are as follows;

1. Itsekiri ex-agitators from the third phase have been entirely excluded, disregarded, marginalized, and abandoned throughout the ongoing Leadership Training for Ex-agitators of Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 by Dr. Dennis Otuaro. 

2. Since 2012, out of the 500 meagre slots allocated to the Itsekiri ex-agitators, to be trained abroad, only about 45 percent have been deployed to various institutions and training by past Administrators of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, while the remaining 65 percent have been abandoned under Dr. Dennis Otuaro’s leadership.

3. During the 2024/2025 academic year, ex-agitators from the Itsekiri ethnic extraction with Uncodes, who submitted applications through the designated portal announced by the office were not shortlisted or deployed.

4. Itsekiri students deployed to Novena University as impacted communities, similar to their Niger Delta counterparts, were abandoned. We construe this as a deliberate effort to exclude Itsekiri ex-agitators from the program's implementation, under Dr. Dennis Otuaro.

“Consequently, upon the above, we demand the removal of Dr. Dennis Otuaro as the Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme for demonstrating bias and nepotism in the implementation of the Presidential Programme.”

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