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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
A coalition of Niger Delta ex-agitators has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint a substantive coordinator for the Presidential Amnesty Programme or recall the suspended coordinator, Prof. Charles Dokubo.
The coalition in a statement by the chairman of Amnesty Phase II, Delta State, Chief Kingsley Muturu, yesterday, said the continued stay of the interim committee put in place by the government to oversee the programme, in the aftermath of the suspension of Dokubo was capable of derailing the programme.
The coalition argued that the interim committee, which consists mainly of persons from outside the Niger Delta, was not in the best position to superintend over the amnesty programme as members are not conversant with the main objectives of the programme.
The ex-agitators noted that though the president after the suspension of Dokubo had charged the interim committee “to ensure that allocated resources are properly utilised in consonance with the government’s objective of alleviating problems in the Niger Delta region and stamping out corruption in the Amnesty Programme,” the committee has even stalled the smooth running of the programme. We are not against the setting up of the interim committee. But we strongly believe that they have overstayed their welcome. They have stalled the running of the office, thereby impacting negatively on the lofty objectives of the programme which includes amongst other things, keeping the peace in the region.”
