Amnesty Doors Are Closed –FG

Federal Government of Nigeria, says the amnesty doors have been closed, therefore, those insisting that they should be admitted into the programme are wasting time.

Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta, Mr Kingsley Kuku, who stated this on Tuesday remarked that any group which disturbed public peace within the Niger Delta region will henceforth be treated as criminals by security agencies.

Kuku,who is also the  co-ordinator of the Amnesty  Programme, urged security agents to arrest any persons who claimed to be ex-militants carrying out protest for prosecution, noting that they  had refused to submit their arms before the proclamation date of amnesty in October 2,2009.

The presidential aide who made the position known while speaking with Government House correspondents in Yenagoa when  the Amnesty Committee visited Governor Timipre Sylva, contended that  this group of ex-militants was apprehensive and skeptical about the commitment of the Federal Government to the terms of the amnesty proclamation.

On the East-West Road, Mr Kuku stressed the need for completion of the road, saying,  development in the region could not be right without the completion of the busy road.

While lauding Governor Sylva for being the initiator of the amnesty programme, Kuku  said a total of 20,192 ex-militants were enrolled in the first phase of the amnesty programme, noting that the ex-militants from Bayelsa State had the largest number of intakes in the programme.

According to Kuku, that was why government exempted the ex-militants from the post-amnesty package, stressing that the amnesty office would   before the end of November 2011 demobilise the entire 6,166 ex-militants included in the second phase of the amnesty programme.

“The amnesty programme is currently contending with the random emergence of groups of unregistered youths claiming rights to the benefits of the amnesty package. .Explanations by the amnesty office that they cannot be included in the programme since they did not come out on or before October 4,2009 to drop their arms and accept the offer from the Federal Government have not helped much,” he said.

It would be recalled that over 1,000 ex-militants under the aegis of the third batch amnesty protested at Mbiama, along the East-West Road in Rivers State, alleging exclusion from the amnesty programme, a forthnight ago.

Governor Timipre Sylva on his part said, he was elated that the amnesty programme was managed by persons who understood the  issues of the Niger Delta.

Sylva  advocated  that  ex-militants should be trained for self-employment, stressing that there was need to develop  facilities in the country rather than going abroad to train the former agitators.

A cross section of participants at the 7th All Nigeria Guild of Editors Conference in Benin, yesterday.