The Presidential Amnesty Office has denied media reports that it dismissed one of its workers, Bolouere Opukiri, for criticising Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and First Lady Aisha Buhari.
Opukiri was reportedly dismissed for calling Osinbajo “a novice” in a July 5, 2017, tweet after she was reported to her bosses by APC loyalists on social media.
But in a Tuesday statement, the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, which coordinates the Presidential Amnesty Programme, denied the media report.
Murphy Ganagana, Special Assistant (Media) to the Special Adviser, Prof Charles Dokubo, in a Tuesday statement said that the reports were untrue, calling Opukiri an “interloper”.
He said, “In the report published by an online news portal, it was alleged that one Ms Bolouere Opukiri claimed to have been re-engaged as a staff of the Presidential Amnesty Office after being sacked by General Paul Boroh, the immediate past Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme.
“The Amnesty Office wishes to state that this is a wicked and mischievous falsehood fabricated by an attention-seeking interloper who does not deserve to be glorified with a response, but for the blatant lies she concocted to mislead undiscerning members of the public.
“To put the records straight, the said Ms Opukiri is unknown to the Amnesty Office as she was never documented either as a civil servant seconded to the office or engaged as a contract staff by the current management of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. Therefore, her claim that she was asked to stop work after a week of re-engagement, is outright falsehood.
“Consequently, there was no basis for Prof Dokubo to “take steps to get her fired once again,” since she wasn’t on record as a staff of the Amnesty Office.
“The allegation that Prof. Dokubo was asked to dismiss her when he visited the State House is a barefaced lie. There was no directive to that effect from the Office of the Vice President, Prof. Osinbajo, or any other quarters, more so, as she wasn’t a staff.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Amnesty Office is not aware of a relationship between Bolouere Opukiri and Double Helix Nigeria Limited, the outsourcing firm which she claimed to be her employer. Thus, the office does not wish to dwell on issues outside its confines.”