– Bribena, others fingered
The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Co-odinator Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Quaker Dokubo, has alleged that one pastor Miebi Bribena, a contractor with the amnesty office has connived with a director of finance and account in the same office, Mr. Ilem Ukam to blackmail him. Amnesty Prof. Charles Dokubo
Describing as total “blackmail and defamation of his character,” reports against him allegedly sponsored by the duo of Bribena and Ukam, the Amnesty Boss, in a statement through the office of his Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Wednesday, accused Bribena of misappropriating the funds meant for the completion of some contracts including the construction of Oil and Gas Vocational Training Centre, Agadagba and the Maritime Vocational Training institute, Obuama.
The statement called on the office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme to call Pastor Bribena to order through constitutional means.
The statement reads thus:
It has come to notice of the office of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta to the President and Co-ordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Quaker Dokubo of the activities of one Pastor Miebi Bribena, a contractor with the amnesty office, who has connived with other persons including the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Amnesty Office, Mr. Ilem Ukam to blackmail the amnesty boss.
It all started when Pastor Miebi Bribena who is also an architect was awarded the contract of the construction of Oil and Gas Vocational Training Centre, Agadagba and the Maritime Vocational Training Institute, Obuama simultaneously by the Kuku-led-Amnesty Office. Pastor was mobilized 98% upfront to execute the jobs. The Agadagba Centre was 60% near completion before it was stopped, but for the timely intervention of Prof. Charles Quaker Dokubo on assumption of office it was completed and commissioned recently. The Obuama Centre was way behind schedule and abandoned with just 20% completion after the release of N2.4 billion naira for a job of such magnitude.
General Boroh, Prof. Dokubo’s predecessor, was tricked into believing that it was the differential in prices, because of the prevailing inflation, that was delaying the job; the balance of funds was released for him to complete the job, Pastor Miebi Bribena did not go to site and diverted the money for his personal use. On assumption of office, Prof. Dokubo called up the Obuama file and was shocked at the discrepancies and numbers that did not add up. Pastor Bribena was invited to clear the air, he was asking for differential in prices again, which was seen as an absurdity. The amount he quoted as differential was equivalent to the original amount quoted for the job, couple with the fact that, he was incoherent and belligerent in his responses. A team was sent to Obuama to evaluate what has been done and was shell-shocked on the state of the structure.
The findings were quite revealing:
1) The foundation of the Obuama Centre was good but the superstructure was an admixture of substandard and standard materials, e. g. blocks, columns were of substandard materials among others.
2) The N2.4 billion naira released for the project was not commensurate with the level of work done.
3) Building materials were diverted for personal use by Bribena
4) Pastor Bribena was busy building houses for some stakeholders in the Niger Delta in order to buy them over in the event of any discovery of shortcomings in the execution of the Obuama project. Those mouths have been sealed since the Obuama project scam came up.
5) The community secondary school Obuama only source of recreation-the football field–was damaged when trucks bearing building materials rode on the field. Pastor Miebi Bribena is yet to take responsibility for this damage.
6) Experts feel the building might collapse under immense pressure of human movement sooner than expected.
7) Hostels and staff quarters have not been built.
8) The jetty for the Maritime institute has not been built among others.
9) The 165 feet deep well for deep sea diving training has not being built among other ancillaries.
9) Accusations of impropriety were also made against Pastor Miebi Bribena by some indigenes of Obuama who did business with him.
Prof. Charles Quaker Dokubo was not comfortable with the findings and other unethical developments and decided to put everything on hold pastor Miebi Bribena’s request for more money.
This was the beginning of Pastor Miebi Bribena’s running battle with the Amnesty office. He enlisted the services of the director of finance and account in the amnesty office, Mr. Ilem Ukam to cause problem in the Niger Delta region with aim of heating up the polity which invariably will lead to the removal of Prof. Dokubo as the amnesty office boss.
Video and audio recordings of Pastor Miebi Bribena verbally insulting Prof. Dokubo were made to go viral. Prior to this time Pastor Miebi Bribena, Mr. Ilem Ukam and a group had orchestrated the looting of Kaiama training where items worth billions of naira were carted away.
To add salt to injury, Bribena has been bragging to all who would listen hear that he single-handedly removed General Boroh, Prof. Charles Dokubo will go in like manner, then a Special Adviser on Niger Delta and coordinator of the amnesty of his choice will be chosen.
The general public should be put on notice that:
i) Pastor Bribena was so privileged to have been given three choice contracts to build three training centres in Ondo, Rivers and Bayelsa respectively; these centres all have issues of non-completion with severe structural defects. The Oil and Gas Vocational Training Centre, Agadagba was remedied by Prof. Charles Dokubo on assumption of office and consequently commissioned to be put to use. The Maritime Vocational Training Centre, Obuama has been abandoned but funds were provided.
ii) The reason Miebi Bribena could not complete these projects, most especially the Maritime Vocational Training Institute, Obuama, Rivers State, was due largely to his insatiable desire for money and power. He diverted the funds for the project to the pursuance of his political career, which failed even before he began the journey.
iii) He lives in faraway Ghana, but delights in fomenting trouble in the Niger Delta as a distraction from the main issue. In the event of any crisis caused by his incendiary comments in the region his family is safe in foreign land, while unsuspecting innocent ones will become casualties.
iv) The youths of the region should hold Miebi Bribena accountable for the non-completion of the Maritime Vocational Training Centre, Obuama in Rivers State. One man has decided to derail the hard-earned peace progress in the region, in order to feed his ego, greed and criminality. His children attend Ivy League schools abroad and the institute that would help transform the children of less-privileged in the region has been abandoned by Pastor Miebi Bribena.
v) It was gathered from the grapevine that he diverted some of the building materials meant for Obuama projects to some of the construction sites of his church (Christ Embassy in Port-Harcourt and Yenagoa respectively) to boost his status symbol as a man of God.
PRAYERS
Without much ado, we call on the office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme to call Pastor Bribena to order through constitutional means. It is either he finishes the project at Obuama or face the wrath of the aggrieved Niger Delta youths. This man is a fraud and must be arrested.
