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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Elder statesman and former minister of information, Chief Edwin Clark, has advised the Federal Government to jettisoned the plan to scrap the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) for ex-agitators in the region, warning that it would amount to waking up a sleeping lion.
This is coming on the heels of a leaked information that the committee set up by the Federal Government to appraise the programme has recommended its abolition this year.
Addressing the press virtually, yesterday, Clark said the living conditions of people in the region had worsened, hence the need for government to allow the programme to continue.
Said Clark: “Just about 11 days ago, I held a press briefing advising and cautioning the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to tread cautiously on Niger Delta Affairs. I have cause to, again, advice/warn the Federal Government, to desist from anything that will truncate the fragile peace that we have in the Niger Delta region. I say this because, just yesterday, rumours were rife, that the four-man investigative panel headed by Ambas-sador A. A. Lawal, set up by the Federal Government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Mohammed Monguno (retd) to look into activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has recommended the scrapping of the programme by December, 2020. If this is true, it will be an epic example of what we say in local parlance ‘trouble dey sleep, yanga go wake am’. This is not a threat; it is stating the obvious of what will actually happen.
“When I got this information, yesterday (Sunday), my temper was high, because how can a region which contributes so much to the economic growth, and by extension, political and social growth of the country, be treated with so much disdain and spite. I recall the sacrifices some of us made before a compromise of setting up the Presidential Amnesty Programme was arrived at.”
Clark said prominent and illustrious sons of the region took the risk of going into the creeks to plead with the youths to lay down their arms and embrace the amnesty programme.
