New Niger Delta Amnesty Boss Denies Nollywood Actress Hilda Dokubo

The Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles Dokubo, has clarified that Nollywood actress and filmmaker Ms. Hilda Dokubo is neither his relative nor an employee of the Presidential Amnesty Office.

In a statement in Abuja yesterday, Dokubo decried insinuations that he hired his relations, particularly Hilda Dokubo to run the affairs of the Amnesty Office.

He said: “I have deemed it extremely important to clarify that since I assumed office as the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, I have not hired any person. In particular, I have not hired Hilda Dokubo in any capacity at the Amnesty Office and I don’t intend doing so. It is also not true that she is my relative. We are not even from the same local government area.”

He explained that he was aware that since the inception of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hilda had been participating in the reintegration component of the Amnesty Programme and it was on this score that he allowed her and other stakeholders of the Programme to visit a number of times to share lessons learnt with him in the few days following his appointment.

“The Amnesty Programme is a classical Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) Programme. All DDR programmmes are fluid and the only way you deepen and improve DDR programmes globally is through sharing experiences and lessons learnt. Hilda Dokubo has come to me to share her experiences while executing certain reintegration assignments given to her by past Coordinators of the Amnesty Programme.

“In the same regard, so many other persons who have been involved in the Programme since inception have also been coming to brief me and I have even visited those I deemed important to learn a few things from. I really do not know why people now go about saying Hilda Dokubo is my staff or relative,” the Amnesty Coordinator stated.