The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) at the weekend joined other groups and individuals in the Niger Delta to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for reappointing Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) as the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
PANDEF had in September urged President Buhari to not only reappoint Dikio but make him the substantive Administrator of the PAP, citing his excellent performance in his first one year as their reason.
The group had pointed out that with Dikio’s reform agenda, reappointing him and making him the substantive head will be a treasured gift to the people of the region.
Reacting to the reappointment, the forum through its chairman, Emmanuel Essien reminded Dikio that the president’s benevolence was a reward for a job well done in the last one year.
He, therefore, enjoined the amnesty boss to justify the presidential gesture by working hard to surpass his previous achievements, stressing that expectations are high and he cannot afford to fail.
Essien while congratulating Dikio also expressed satisfaction over the steps he has taken to sanitize the PAP despite the obstacles and challenges.
“Our expectation in this coming year is that Dikio will continue the sanitization of the Amnesty programme and ensure that he returns the programme to its core mandate. We hope to see that these mandates are achieved in this administration.
“Dikio is a man of foresight and vision so we at PANDEF believe he will deliver on these expectations,” he said.
The PANDEF Chairman also urged President Buhari to take further steps by confirming Dikio as the substantive Administrator for the interest of peace in the region and to avoid all bottlenecks in his new term.
“While we applaud the President for reappointing Dikio, we appeal that he makes him the substantive Administrator because so far, he has performed so well in the capacity given to him. This is our only concern”, Essien stressed.
