Officials of the agitators, youth council at the press briefing
The National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, (NCNDE-A) in conjunction with the Niger Delta Youth Council, (NDYC) has rejected the constitution of an interim management committee for the Presidential Amnesty Programme saying it an attempt by a few who have subverted the aim of the scheme for their private benefit to continue to profit from the programme at the expense of those it was established for.
The groups at a joint press conference on Tuesday in Abuja addressed by Engr. Jator Abido, National Coordinator, Niger Delta Youth Council, NDYC and Eshanekpe Israel, A.K.A Akpodoro, National President, National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDEA urged President Muhammadu Buhari to disband the interim committee set up by the National Security Adviser and constitute a new committee to include leaders, ex-militants and human development experts from the region.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the suspension of the coordinator of the presidential amnesty programme, Charles Dokubo and ordered constitution of an interim management team.
However, the group believes the suspension initiated by the NSA was not in the interest of the programme as it alleged that certain persons were using the programme as conduit pipe to siphon monies meant for training, rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-agitators to the society.
“We are privy to how monies meant to achieve the lofty goals of the Programme end in private pockets in an agency directly under the purview of the NSA.
“We, the prominent ex-militant leaders from across the broad spectrum of the mangrove Niger Delta region on behalf of ourselves and our large followers across the 9 states of our region have gathered here in this press conference to express our reservations over the unabated insults on our collective sensibility in the mismanagement of the Presidential Amnesty Programme established in 2009 by the late President Umar Yar’Adua, by the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno.
“Following last weekend suspension of the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and Special Adviser on the Amnesty Programme, Professor Charles Dokubo, we are inundated with the news of the establishment of a Probe Committee by the office of the NSA to President and the subsequent selection of members from within that office to constitute the Committee by the Monguno led office.
“We are irked by the names of members of the committee which was constituted without consulting critical stakeholders from the region and as if that insult was not enough Monguno selected northerners who we know to be his stooges as members and leaders of the probe panel; a development that will render futile, the genuine intention of the probe which we know was to prod into the activities of that development agencies”.
The Coalition while throwing its weight behind the probe, and the total overhaul of the administrative architecture of the agency which it alleged has been rendered crawling since creation without meaningful achievements insisted that neutral persons should form the panel not people who have been part of the problem.
“The Ex-Agitators leaders are the faces and reasons for the creation of that intervention agency and whatever is needed in the programme, we and the leaders of thought from that region must not only be consulted but be part of it. Monguno is treating us without respect and stripping us of our deserved honour as if we are a conquered group but this latest development will mark the end of such insult”, the group warned.
It further urged President Buhari to act fast to avert the impending crises the actions of the NSA were capable of causing.
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