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Ex-militants vow to frustrate Jonathan’s re-election POSTED ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12TH, 2013 By Sunday Apah Special Correspondent, Ughelli EX-MILITANT leaders across the Niger Delta region on Tuesday vowed to frustrate the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 due to what they called the unsatisfactory way the presidential amnesty programme is being handled. This was revealed in a statement issued by ex-warlord, General Godday Smith (aka Bounanawei, gods of the Niger Delta), alleging the continued plunder, deceit and indiscretion in the federal government amnesty programme in the region. According to the ex-warlord, the President should not be deceived as the effect of the amnesty is only felt in the increase of oil production, but has not made any remarkable impact on the lives of youths in the region. He said: “Mr. President, do not allow anybody to deceive you, you must know that lasting peace cannot be guaranteed in Niger Delta region, until all ex-militants and youths across the Niger Delta region that embraced the amnesty and surrendered their arms are carried along and empowered to directly benefit from the programme.” He continued: “I am afraid, Mr. President, that it will surprise you to learn that 80 percent of the ex-militants that have not benefited in the amnesty programme are not happy with your istration, because they cannot have you from the Niger Delta as President, and yet they cannot benefit from a programme initiated and left behind for you by late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who wholeheartedly meant well for all the Niger Delta youths. “Mr. President, the continued deceit in the President Amnesty Committee if not quickly addressed, may hinder your perceived presidential ambition come 2015. As aggrieved ex-militants we are already mobilizing to frustrate your re- election bid; the truth is bitter, but it must be said.” The ex-warlord, who also threatened to return to the creeks, said he was deceived by the special adviser to the President on Niger Delta Matters, Mr Kingsley Kuku and late Gen. Azazi, as all the promises made to him before he dropped his arms and embraced the Amnesty were yet to be fulfilled He pointed that on June 25, 2009, when late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua granted unconditional Amnesty to then militants in Niger Delta, the laudable initiative of late Yar’Adua was to ensure that all youths involved in the act of militancy and related offences in the region were transformed, made self reliance and useful to themselves and to the society at large. The Amnesty programme for the unemployed and restive youths from Niger Delta (ex-militants) was recommended by a powerful presidential committee and it was legalized, but unfortunately what is happening in the Amnesty programme today is completely out of place, because we, who are the genuine agitators and ex-militants leaders, have been abandoned and shortchanged with fake ex-militants leaders. Yar’Adua, in his wisdom made it clear that the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was aware that the challenges of the Niger Delta arose mainly from the inadequacies of previous attempts at meeting the yearnings and aspiration of the people, and by the declaration of Amnesty to Niger Delta youths, the late Yar’Adua had set in motion machinery for the sustainable development of youths in the Niger Delta States. |
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