By Olayemi John-Mensah
The office of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo did not order the sack of any amnesty office staff, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof Charles Dokubo, has said.
Prof Dokubo in a release from Amnesty office on Tuesday stated that his attention has been drawn to a report captioned, “Nigerian woman loses job after criticizing Vice President Osinbajo online”.
The report published by an online news portal, PREMIUM TIMES, 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 but that after her re-engagement last month by Double Helix Nigeria Limited, a new outsourcing firm contracted by the Amnesty Office, she was asked to stop work within the first week.
She alleged that Prof. Charles Dokubo who succeeded General Boroh barely two months ago “was asked to dismiss her again when he visited the State House early May adding that they told him they were aware that I had been reinstated and he immediately took steps to get me fired once again to avoid offending the presidency.
“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 Bolouere 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.”
Prof Dokubo also stated that the allegation he was asked to dismiss her when he visited the State House is a barefaced lie adding that there was no such directive from the Office of the VP office or any other quarters, “more so, as she wasn’t a staff.”