AMNESTY: EX-MILITANT LEADER DENIES ALLEGED STIPEND DIVERSION

By FESTUS AHON
UGHELLI -  COMMANDER of the defunct Ogidi camp, ex-militants camp in the Niger Delta, 'General' Eddy Otobrise, yesterday, denied allegations of diverting his followers' stipends, describing the report as wicked and unfounded.

Otobrise, who spoke to Vanguard in Ughelli, Delta State, said those behind the report were not his boys and were not part of the struggle.

He said: 'The monthly stipends being paid to us from the Amnesty Office gets to all my boys.' He urged the Amnesty office and the general public to 'disregard the allegations contained in the said report.'

Insisting that his boys had no cause to complain of being short-changed, Otobrise commended the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme, Mr Kingsley Kuku. He said: 'We have confidence in Kuku and his team. They are doing wonderfully well.'

Also speaking, a member of the camp, 'Capt' Blessing Onisuru described the allegation as shocking.