Abuja—A group, Niger Delta Coastal Initiatives United Front (NDCINF) has condemned a statement by the Niger Delta Frontiers Movement (NDFM) urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to appoint a non-Ijaw as coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs.
The group which described the statement as a baseless assertion averred that the PAP was established because of ex-agitators who laid down their arms in the interest of the country.
Mangrovepen.ng gathered that the NDFM in a statement by its president, Goodluck Opia had called for the appointment of the PAP coordinator from another ethnic group in the Niger Delta for inclusiveness and the need to build a sense of belonging among all ethnic nationalities in the region, noting that the Programme shouldn’t be an exclusive preserve of one tribe.
Opia argued that past governments had sustained what he described as lopsided appointments into that office in the past and that the region belongs to all and sundry.
“Right from the beginning of the Programme, the FG has deliberately ignored and denied other ethnic nations the right to manage the affairs of the office saying retired military officers most of whom were appointed in the past don’t even know the beneficiaries of the programme let alone be in touch with the realities on the ground and this he said has hampered the would-have-been success of the intervention agency,” he said.
But the Niger Delta Coastal Initiatives United Front also argued that “it is an insult and demeaning for any other ethnic group in the Niger Delta to agitate on issues concerning the Presidential Amnesty Programme when they were nowhere to be found in the days of the struggle.
“Those ethnic groups calling for inclusiveness are the very people that called Ijaw Youths Militants in the pre-amnesty era.”
According to the statement signed by its president, Chief Opumie Crowther and secretary, Comr. Festus Azibanigha Joseph, the group stated that at the peak of the restiveness in the Niger Delta, several Ijaw communities were bombarded by the Federal Government.
“The Ijaws have received social and environmental injustice in order to drive home their demand. The Urhobos, Itshekiris, Ikwerres, Isokos, and Edos are our neighbours but when it comes to the Amnesty Programme, respect should be given to the Ijaws and not this wickedness portrayed by this misguided faceless group (NDFM)
“The Ijaws are the forebears and frontiers of the Niger Delta Struggle and through the Ijaw Struggle today the NDDC, NCDMB, Ministry of Niger Delta and Amnesty Programme are benefitting the entire region. The blood of Ijaw youths was sacrificed for the current peace we are enjoying in the region.
“It will therefore be unwise and an act of wickedness to sit in your comfort zone without contributing anything to the formation of the programme and agitate for headship of a programme you never partook in and labeled all kinds of names on the Ijaw people.
“Let it be known that the Amnesty Programme, unlike other commissions like the NDDC, NCDMB, Niger Delta Ministry etc. is for all Niger Deltans, the Amnesty Programme on the other hand is exclusively for Niger Delta ex-agitators who laid down their arms for the overall benefit of the region and the Country in general,” the group posited.
While highlighting disarmament, demobilization and reintegration as the three phases of the PAP, the group further asked how many agitators from other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta embraced the disarmament in Phase 1?
“The answer is no. When the Ijaws who are the forebears of the struggle embraced peace and constituted 98% of the delegates.
“How can people who never participated in the struggle come to talk about the leadership of such a programme? For emphasis, the Amnesty Programme is not about Niger Delta region but for ex-agitators and aims to transform delegates into the society through training and reintegration.”
The group which eulogized the leadership prowess of the PAP Interim Administrator, General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (rtd) stated that he has brought sanity to the programme.
They called on the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume to disregard the statement from the group noting that it was due to envy and ignorance.
Meanwhile, the group in a recently held meeting passed a vote of confidence on Ndiomu for his role in stabilizing the programme and region which has led to an increase in oil production in the country and also called on President Bola Tinubu to retain him.
The group also commended Tinubu for removing fuel subsidy which according to them has been a source of corruption.
The ex-agitators also hailed him for the power sector reform and the signing of the Student Loan Bill, among others.
