Issues
Democracy: The Post-Amnesty Window
The Federal government’s post-amnesty programme for ex-militants in the Niger Delta may end next year (2013) – two years earlier than the originally planned date of 2015, according to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and chairman of the Amnesty progamme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku.
Hon. Kuku was speaking in Lagos, recently, at a pre-departure ceremony for another batch of ex-militants who were going overseas, to Italy, South Africa and Belarus, where they will undergo various programmes in electrical engineering, computer engineering, petrochemical engineering, radio informatics, mass communication, mathematics, biological sciences, physics and chemistry.
Kuku’s declaration underscores the success of the Post-Amnesty progamme in dealing with a major threat to the economic development and security of Nigeria’s democracy, namely the building of human capacity and sustainable engagement of youths for peace in the Niger Delta.
When on June 25, 2009, President Umaru Yar’Adua (may his soul rest in peace) announced his plan to grant amnesty to all those engaged in militant activities in the Niger Delta and who were willing to renounce violence and surrender their arms in exchange for presidential pardon, not a few people outside the presidential kitchen cabinet believed him, considering the spate of virulent criticisms that greeted the announcement. Even those who were the prime target beneficiaries of the plan were suspicious and would rather treat it very cautiously as one of those specially packaged and signed programmes that was however fated to pass through a cul-de sac and remain undelivered.
The fears so blatantly expressed in the media were that the president’s amnesty package was merely a desperate reaction by the Federal Government to save the nation’s economy from the speedy decline in oil revenue as oil production dropped from over 2 million barrels per day to less than 800,000 barrels per day; and also saved the administration from ridicule by the opposition and good governance analysts as it sought to prove its capacity to manage our democracy. For, more than the issue of economic survival, what posed a critical challenge to the Federal Government during the pre-amnesty days was its ability to steer the ship of state in such a manner that could increase the faith of Nigerians in the effectiveness and beauty of democracy (economic development and survival being merely part of democracy).
And it was to sustain democracy that the Federal Government treated the amnesty programme with urgency, ensuring that everything about it was done with dispatch. Indeed, nothing threatened the collapse of democracy under Yar-Adua’s watch more than the challenge posed by the activities of militant gangs scattered in several camps in the swamps of the Niger Delta.
Vibrant and agile young men and women but largely unemployed or under-employed, and marooned in militant camps that cannot be properly numbered and toughened by the harsh realities of poverty and hostile economic and environmental conditions, found attraction in lawlessness and brigandage. With tens of thousands of able-bodied youths, some of them very skillful and well educated and with strong ideological underpinnings, it was easy to understand the level of sophistication that was brought into pipeline vandalization, hostage taking, piracy and detonation of bombs. Anger and protestation wore a new toga.
It was to say the least unsettling in the Niger Delta as state governors complimented the Federal government in committing huge resources to combat militant activities. It was in view of their contribution and direct involvement as chief security officers of their respective states that the governors threatened to pull out of the Amnesty deal if the Federal Government did not carry them along. It is gratifying that all hands have been on deck to ensure the success of the scheme.
According to the former presidential adviser on Niger Delta Affairs, Chief Timi Alaibe, the key objective of the Amnesty programme “is to stabilize, consolidate and sustain security conditions in the Niger Delta as a pre-requisite for promoting economic development in the area.”
Also, Hon. Kuku echoed this at a stakeholders interactive forum in Lagos recently, when he said. “The concern over the security and of the Niger Delta and the stability of the economy was palpable and could be seen against the backdrop of pre-amnesty activities when foreign investments in the upstream sub-sector greatly dwindled as investors found safer alternative destinations in Ghana and Angola.”
Nigeria could not meet its target of 40billion proven resources by 2010 as foremost oil company, Shell, saw its production capacity drop from one million barrels per day to about 250,000 barrels per day. With several diplomatic Advisory notices by the United States of America and other foreign countries to their nationals to avoid the Niger Delta over security concerns, the Niger Delta was virtually a no-go area. The growth of militant groups was so widespread that the mangrove swamps became host to numerous militant camps fortified with heavy weaponry and providing comfort to youths who were satisfied with blowing up oil pipelines, seizing oil vessels and making the oil platforms unsafe for oil workers.
It was therefore not surprising that by October 4, 2009, the last day of the amnesty grace period, 20,192 militants had accepted amnesty. With over 6000 persons approved as supplementary by President Jonathan, the list of militants under the amnesty programme is better imagined. Even with this huge figure, there are still agitations by some persons claiming exclusion from the amnesty. Hon. Kuku has declared that the door for amnesty is closed, and has urged state governments to provide such opportunities as have been created by the Amnesty office to deal with the expectations of such persons.
In three years, the post amnesty programme is really on course as its focus on training and capacity building has been far-reaching. Several batches of ex-militants have received training in various skills that have adequately prepared them for opportunities in oil and gas associated industries. In particular, many of them have been trained in under-water welding; pipeline welding, ocean diving, crane operations, oil drilling, automobile technology, fish farming and entrepreneurship, for periods of trainings scheduled to last between six months and two years.
While others are attending training programme that could take as long as five years. The aim is to give the ex-militants the best possible training in their preferred areas of study to qualify them for any possible opportunity.
In addition to those who have received training that have prepared them for the petroleum industry, many ex-militants have received training as pilots and agro-scientists in Israel. Out of the 18 pilot-trainees in South Africa, at least three have successfully operated solo flights and have received their Private Pilot Licences to fly aircraft. From the deep swampy creeks have emerged well trained pilots that fly airplanes like every other trained pilot.
While training as part of the post-amnesty programmes appears to be succeeding, the issue of rehabilitation and reintegration still pose formidable challenges. These are due largely to the inadequacies of job spaces to accommodate those who have been trained. The huge number of unregistered ex-militants demanding to be part of the amnesty scheme cannot also be overlooked in view of the fluid character of those involved in militant activities. Not less is the occasional flashes of discontent by militant groups issuing ultimatum over unsatisfactory implementation of the amnesty package.
To be sure, the expectation of many people in the Niger Delta is that the amnesty package will first track infrastructural development that will transform the entire swampy region to be commensurate with the volume of deprivation the people of the area have suffered in our 50 years of oil exploration and exportation.
If Government’s intention for the Amnesty programme is to restore the economy and stabilize democracy, the hope of the people is the quick and wholistic development of the Niger Delta through the construction of projects such as the East-West Road, the coastal road networks, and the construction and expansion of industrial establishments such as the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project at Bonny and the completion of the LNG at Brass. The package should also recognise the right of the Niger Delta people as equal partners in the Nigerian Federation.
The fact could thus, be restated, that whereas the post-amnesty programme has numerous challenges, the journey has been swift and laudable because not only has the nation’s oil production capacity made appreciable progress, the threat of economic collapse and the danger it posed to democracy have been successfully handled. And with many ex-militants well trained and integrated into the society as useful and gainfully employed citizens, the country is once again on the right path to sustainable democracy through the window opened by the post amnesty deal.
Alpheaus Paul-Worika
This is an open letter to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike.
Your Excellency,
Sir, ordinarily, I would not be writing an open letter to you, but like a wise man once said, “Silence would be Treason.” So I prefer to stay alive than face the consequences of silence in the face of crime. With each passing day, and as the socio-political tides continue to turn, it has become more pertinent that more people speak up in a concerted MANNER to prevent the death of our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as we appear to be, in the words of W. B. Yeats, “turning and turning in the widening gyre” heading for an end where the falcon will no longer hear the falconer
It is unfortunate that since losing control of the Federal Government, with the loss of President Goodluck Jonathan at the poll in 2015, our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has continued on a downward spiral. It is much more painful, that where it is expected that leaders within the party should rise to the challenge and put an end to this decline of our great party, some have instead taken up roles as its undertaker.
It will be hypocritical to claim aloofness to what I believe is your grouse with the PDP and I am not a hypocrite. It will be uncharitable on my part to discountenance the role you have played in strengthening the PDP from 2015 up until the last Presidential primaries of the party. It is my belief that your grouse against certain members of the party who you perceived worked against the party and abandoned it in 2015 and then came around much later to take control of the party, is justified. Also know that your decision to remain in the Party and stifle its progress on the other hand, as a sort of payback, stands condemned. For a man of your pedigree and stature, it is a dishonorable act, highly dishonorable and stands as testimony against all you claim to stand for.
At least, it can be argued that those who you hold this grudge against, abandoned the party completely and did not sit back while actively working to destroy it from within. But what then can be the argument on your own part, seeing that those you are currently working with against your party are the same people who set in motion, and executed surgically, the plans that not only ended our Party’s leadership at the centre, but ended up dislodging the first Niger Deltan to occupy Aso Rock as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Is this not akin to “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face?” That will be worse than folly. Let us not throw away the baby with the bath water because we do not like the soap used in bathing the baby. It will be a grave mistake.
Honourable Minister, sir, it is rather unfortunate that of all people, you have also decided to play the role of an undertaker not only for our party, but for our dear Rivers State.
I will like to take you down memory lane a little. Let me remind you of your emergence as Guber candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, against all fairness and justice in 2014. You will remember that despite the reality being that you as an Ikwerre man was poised to replace a fellow Ikwerre man in Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi in our multiethnic state, Rivers people overwhelmingly stood by you and pushed for your emergence as Executive Governor of Rivers State in 2015. I dare say that your popularity in the entire Niger Delta region was at an all-time high at this point.
I want you to understand why you were loved across board leading to your eventual emergence as Governor of Rivers State in 2015; it was because when it looked like all were against the second term ambitions of the first Niger Delta man to emerge as President of Nigeria, you became not just a pillar but a beacon of resistance by standing for Goodluck Jonathan. Rivers people, as grateful and rewarding as they can be, paid you back by ensuring your electoral victory against the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) led by your predecessor. On your emergence, where there were second term Governors in the region, you, a first term Governor, was seen by the people as not just the leader of the PDP, but the leader of the entire Niger Delta region. You earned it, and no one could dispute it.
In 2019, when your re-election bid was being challenged ferociously, Rivers people once again stood solidly behind you. Many were killed in the process of defending your votes. Do you remember Dr. Ferry Gberegbe that was shot and killed while trying to protect your votes in Khana Local Government Area? There are many more unnamed and unrecognised sons and daughters of Rivers State who sacrificed their lives so that you could emerge as a second term Governor of Rivers State.
In 2022/23, Honourable Minister, you oversaw a party primary across board that saw some candidates imprisoned and internal party democracy jettisoned for your wishes, leading to the emergence of flag bearers of our party all singlehandedly picked by you. You have on more than one occasion publicly stated that you paid for all their forms. Even those shortchanged in this process licked their wounds and continued to play their roles as party members to ensure the success of the party at all levels. In what will go down as one of the most keenly contested elections in recent Rivers history, with formidable candidates like Senator Magnus Abe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Tonye Cole of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the vibrant youth driven Labour Party (LP), PDP emerged victorious across board except for Phalga Constituency 1 that was lost to the Labour Party. (Not that you did not loose in some other LGA’s but let’s stick to the official figures declared by INEC).
It begs the question, why then do you want to burn down Rivers State, when everyone who now holds political office emerged through a process designed and endorsed by you? Is it that you do not care about Rivers people and you are all about yourself? If so, I am forced to believe that those around you are not telling you the truth. The truth being that in a state where your words were law; where houses and businesses could be demolished or closed down without any recourse to legalities, where Executive Orders could be deployed to stifle the opposition, that your popularity is now at an all-time low. Probably because they are afraid of you, or of losing the benefits they gain from you, they fail to tell you that what you might perceive as a battle against your successor, has slowly but gradually degenerating into a battle against Rivers State and Rivers people. You know, there is a popular saying that, a man can cook for the community and the community will finish the food, but when a community decides to cook for one man, the reverse is the case.
LEAVE FUBARA ALONE
You have gone on and on about being betrayed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. You point fingers forgetting that some of those same fingers quick to spot betrayals point straight back at you. It is not Governor Fubara that has betrayed the PDP by working against it in the just concluded General Election, and working with the opposition at the State and Federal level to destabilise the party. It is you, Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that betrayed Rivers people by instigating a political crisis with propensity to escalate ethnic tensions in Rivers State. It is you Honourable Minister. It is not Governor Fubara that has declared himself God over all in Rivers State and has no qualms with burning the state to the ground to prove a point. It is you Honourable Minister. It is you Honourable Minister who told the world that the APC was a cancer and you can never support a cancerous party. It is you Honourable Minister who ended up facilitating the emergence of the same “cancerous” APC that has accelerated the economic decline of this country and further impoverished our people with no remorse. All so you can be a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory? The lack of self awareness is gobsmacking.
Some days back I came across a video where you talked about death and how you do not cry when you hear about the death of some people because you have no idea what might have caused it considering many a politician swear “over dead bodies” and still go back on their words. Those words made me think, and I could see the reason behind them. You see, in chosing to be God in the affairs of Rivers people, you have closed your eyes and ears to reason; you see nothing and hear nothing that can cause you to rethink on the path you have chosen. In your quest to “show Fubara” you have unwittingly united a vast majority of Rivers people behind him, so much that even those who despised him because of you, now like or love him, because of you too. In your scheming, I will advise you not to forget that “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
Note that the war which you have or are waging against Governor Fubara, has gone beyond being merely political as you might see in your minds eye. It is now one that, fortunately for some and unfortunately for others, has evolved into a war against Rivers people. It is good to point out that no one has taken a stand against Rivers people and won. No one has gone against God and won. In your defiant characteristic manner, it will be unfortunate if you believe your own hubris and that of those around you on the possibility of you being the first to successfully go against Rivers people. It will be a needless gamble; one where if you win you create more enemies for yourself than you can withstand on your political journey, and if you lose, your legacy becomes an inglorious and irredeemable one in Rivers State, the Niger Delta, and Nigeria at large. For your sake as regards posterity, it is my greatest wish that you have a moment of sobriety and a deep reflection and introspection on this path you have chosen.
Honourable Minister, sir, what is left of your legacy is on the brink of being completely desecrated and relegated to the dustbin of our political history, and it will be a sad end to what I will say has been a wonderful political career that many can only dream of. The ball is in your court, and may God Almighty have mercy on us all and forgive us for our shortcomings.
Gabriel Baritulem Pidomson
Dr Pidomson is former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt and former member, Rivers State House of Assembly.
In 2015, I made a conscious decision to invest my financial resources, my time, and energy into supporting Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial campaign. I poured my heart and soul into ensuring Nyesom Wike emerged victorious even at the risk of my personal safety.
Again in 2019, I doubled down on my commitment. I invested a significant amount of money to procure campaign outfits for all twenty-three Local Governments Areas of Rivers State. I spared no expense in supplementing Wike’s election efforts in my own local government, and once again putting myself at great risk to safeguard the fairness and transparency of the electoral process.
However, despite my unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, I found myself abandoned and forgotten by Wike. Throughout his eight-year tenure, he failed to acknowledge my contributions or fulfill his promises and agreements. Even as a former Deputy Governor, Wike denied me my severance benefit.
My investment in Wike’s governorship was not just financial – it was a commitment of passion, dedication, and belief in a better future for Rivers State. Yet, his leadership style of dishonesty, greed, drunkenness and rash abuse of senior citizens brought me nothing but disappointment, misery and losses.
By the grace of God, today I speak not as a victim, but as a hero. I have accepted my losses, and I have moved on. And as I reflect on my experience, I cannot help but urge Wike to do the same and allow peace and development to reign in Rivers State.
Nyesom Wike, when you speak of investing in Governor Sim Fubara’s election, remember those like me who also invested in you. Remember the sacrifices I made, the risks I took, and the promises and agreements you left unfulfilled.
It is time for you, Wike, to let go of the past and allow Governor Sim Fubara the breathing space he needs to lead Rivers State forward. Allow him to focus on the challenges of good governance and the aspirations of the people. Spare him these unwarranted and ill-conceived political manoeuvrings founded on personal agenda and not for general good of Rivers State and her people.
I may have lost my investment on Wike, but I have not lost hope in the future of Rivers State. And together, we will continue to strive for a brighter tomorrow.
Long Live the Governor to Rivers State, Sir Siminialayi Fubara!
Long Live the Good People of Rivers State!!
Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!
Engr Ikuru is former Deputy Governor of Rivers State.
Tele Ikuru
