The Ijaw People’s Development Initiative (IPDI) has condemned what it described as a “baseless, mischievous, barbaric, and misleading” campaign against the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) administrator, Dr. Dennis Brutu Otuaro, by certain Itsekiri individuals. In a statement signed by its National President, Comrade Ozobo Austin, IPDI dismissed recent calls for Dr. Otuaro’s removal over allegations of bias and exclusion, describing them as unfounded and a mere campaign of calumny. Ozobo clarified that the ongoing PAP training programme was designed for top leaders and commanders of the initiative—not political slot holders such as the Itsekiris, who he said initially rejected the programme when it was proclaimed in 2009. According to him, the Itsekiris publicly declared in newspapers at the time that they had no militant youths and mocked the Ijaw people for embracing the amnesty offer. He noted that it was only out of Ijaw benevolence that the Itsekiris were later allocated 500 political slots in the programme. Ozobo challenged those making the accusations to name their disarmament points and commanders during the early stages of the initiative. He further maintained that Itsekiri PAP beneficiaries should be grateful to both Dr. Otuaro and the Ijaw nation for including them despite their initial rejection of the programme. IPDI urged the public to disregard claims of exclusion, marginalization, or neglect, stressing that such narratives were being pushed by “unmanned Itsekiri miscreants” who were not genuine PAP beneficiaries. The group also addressed concerns over scholarship allocations, stating: **"no Itsekiri PAP scholarship student was abandoned, or shortchanged except the list fraudulently sent to Novena in the name of PAP by some Itsekiri miscreants without the knowledge of PAP which was turned down by the previous administrations."** While reiterating its support for Dr. Otuaro’s leadership, IPDI insisted that the programme’s resources were being managed in line with its original objectives and should not be hijacked for political patronage.