The Ijaw Publishers’ Forum (IPF) has openly expressed its support for the leadership of Dr. Dennis Burutu Otuaro (Ph.D.) as Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
The body, made up of Ijaw media owners across the Niger Delta region, said Otuaro administration has revived confidence, restored focus, and repositioned the programme for the genuine empowerment of Niger Deltans.
Addressing a press conference in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday, the President of IPF, Comrade Austin Ozobo, said since his appointment in March 2024, Chief Otuaro has demonstrated clarity of purpose, measurable achievements, and dedication to service.
Ozobo, flanked by other executives of the body, said “as journalists of conscience, we commend and defend good leadership wherever it is found, especially among Ijaw sons and daughters who have distinguished themselves in service,” stressing that “our allegiance is to the truth, the people, and the progress of the Niger Delta.”
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The IPF President, while noting that lending “our voice in support of any public office holder is not out of sentiment, politics, or personal gain, but out of an objective recognition of results, integrity, and purposeful leadership,” said under Otuaro leadership, “PAP has moved beyond mere stipend payments to ex-agitators and launched broader human capital development interventions.”
Ozobo said Otuaro is concerned in “giving the programme a human face… developed for the people of the Niger Delta for a better future,” adding that “he has consistently called for stakeholder inclusion, including women’s participation in the peace process for the Niger Delta.”
“He has reaffirmed the programme’s mandate of promoting sustainable peace, security, and development in the Niger Delta region. Strategic Repositioning of PAP:
“These are not symbolic gestures alone — they reflect a strategic repositioning of PAP to deliver tangible value, particularly through education, vocational training, and stakeholder engagement for communities long impacted by militancy, environmental degradation, and underdevelopment,” he said.
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Ozobo, who called on all and sundry to support Otuaro in his bid to actualising the aims and objectives of the PAP in the region, urged critics to see the good things the current PAP administration is doing, and if they want to criticize to be constructive rather than “destructive opposition.”
He added: “Genuine criticism and oversight are welcomed — but what we are witnessing in certain quarters are attempts to undermine a capable, reform-minded leader through misdirection, misinformation, and vested-interest campaigns.”
He, therefore, called on “all arms of government — federal, state, and local — to give PAP the institutional backing it needs to fulfil its mandate. The region deserves no less.”
