Unlike ex-Sen. Dino Melaye whose graduation and claim of first-class honor was marinated in controversy thanks to his media handlers, Niger Delta’s ex-militant leader Boyloaf’s story is clean, true, and less sensational.
Ebikabowei Victor-Ben graduated with a first class honours degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from the Baze University, Abuja, same institution where the former senator graduated.
The interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Colonel Milland Dixon Dikio (retd),
In a statement by his special adviser on media, interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme retired Col Milland Dixon Dikio said the Boyloaf’s achievement proved the capacity built over the years by the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme.
He said the achievement by the former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) represented the emerging new Niger Delta.
He mentioned other ex-agitators like Nicholas Goodnews, who graduated with a first class in Mass Communication in the University of Bedfordshire, United Kingdom earlier in the year.
Dikio said the latest achievement by Boyloaf, who is also concurrently studying for a master’s degree, should inspire others to work towards attaining greater heights, not just in academics but other industries for the benefit of the region and the country.
He urged the people to judge the region by the good things coming from there and “not pockets of typical setbacks happening in other climes.
Boyloaf is graduating at 50. He accepted the PAP initiative of the late President Umar Yar Adua, and left the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) which he commanded the height of resource agitation in the region.