Following reactions reportedly trailing the rumoured plan to appoint a retired Army General of Urhobo extraction as the Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, from the Ijaw Youth Council, (IYC), an Ijaw pressure group, the Mayor of Urhoboland, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro has urged the Federal Government to call the bluff of such group, saying, they are noted for issuing empty threats.
The Mayor who spoke to newsmen in Abuja, Sunday, said the IYC should be decent enough to know that the Amnesty Programme was not named after or created for only Ijaw Nation, stating that the programme was created to rehabilitate the then restive youths in the Delta region and that the programme is not an exclusive preserve of the Ijaw Nation, adding that issuing threats is not an option.
He said the office is not for only Ijaw people, stating that from creation, government has always appointed only Ijaw people back-to-back into the Amnesty office which he noted gave them the erroneous sense of entitlement to the office. “It’s a regional office meant for the development of the youths in the region, and the Ijaw race is nowhere superior to other tribes,” he said
Mayor Akpodoro wondered what informed a particular group to issue threats, adding that no group has the monopoly of violence as he called on the Federal Government to ensure an Urhobo man is appointed the Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme.
He added: “The government had appointed several persons who mismanaged and eroded the principles and philosophy of that office. Other nationalities had supported every Ijaw son appointed but it is an embarrassment that one disgruntled bunch will come up to issue threats over a planned appointment of other tribe.”