By Amgbare prince, Yenagoa
The Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, has vowed to drag an online newspaper, PMEXPRESS through court for false publication of alleged financial corruption levelled against some officials of the agency.
The publication described the allegation as “mind-boggling corruption” but the PAP said it was nothing but a figment of the author’s imagination.
The Agency noted that the reporter was on a mission to dent the image of the programme, describing it as “spurious and untrue”, and challenged the Newspaper to provide proofs of its claim with facts and figures.
This was disclosed in a statement obtained from the PAP office by our Correspondent.
The agency enjoined the public to discountenance the said report because it lacked merit and did not represent the real picture of activities at the PAP.
The statement read in part: “The attention of the management of Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) has been drawn to a spurious story published on the 3rd of January 2023 by PMEXPRESS, an online publication.
“The author of the unsubstantiated story, one Aisha Abubakar alleged that some staff members of the finance and audit departments are involved in mind-boggling corrupt practices through what she called “Advance Payment” despite the new Interim Administrator’s concerted efforts to stamp out corruption in the system.
“The story entitled, ‘Presidential Amnesty Programme still a cesspool of mind-boggling corruption’ was nothing but a figment of the author’s imagination.
“We are at loss to understand what the writer means by Advance Payment (AP) and how it is being used to perpetrate fraud in the system.
“It is unfortunate that the reporter did not substantiate her bogus claims with verifiable evidence of corruption in the programme.
“The story is diversionary and totally at variance with the good traditions of journalism.
“We hereby, demand an unreserved public apology from the reporter and the PMEXPRESS for misleading the public.
“The management of the PAP may be constrained to take a legal action to redeem its image.
“The author of report and the PMEXPRESS are hereby given 7 working days from today, Thursday 5th January 2023 to retract the story, and render public apology to PAP or be faced with a legal action.”
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