1,500 Militants Set To Surrender Arms …As Boro Lists Gains Of Amnesty

Some of the 275 detainees released by the Nigerian Army to the Borno State Government after being cleared of belonging to the Boko Haram terrorists group in Maiduguri on Friday

More than 1,500 Niger Delta militants, yesterday, expressed their desire to embrace amnesty and surrender arms to the Federal Government.
Their decision followed the intervention of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.
They, however, warned that their willingness to surrender arms should not be seen as an act of cowardice but an act of patriotism.
The militants’ resolution was contained in a statement in Abuja by their leaders, O.C. Babaeere and America Tekeiminikpoba, on behalf of other Commanders from Arepo, Ikorodu, Abule, Fatorla, Ibafo, Magboro, Epe, Itokin, Ilepete, Okenekene, Agric, Gbokoda camps, Camp 5 and environs.
The militants expressed their desire to surrender arms and embrace the amnesty programme so long as the government remained sincere.
While premising their action on the peaceful approach of Kachikwu, the militants declared that all NNPC facilities and their subsidiaries must work for the betterment of Nigeria and the economic efficiency in the face of dwindling oil prices.
“We also agree that all NNPC facilities and its subsidiaries must work for the betterment of Nigeria and the economic efficiency in the face of dwindling oil pricesa,” the statement said.
“However, our willingness to surrender should not be seen as an act of cowardice, rather, as an act of patriotism.”
Meanwhile,the Special Adviser to the President and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig. Gen. Paul T. Boroh (rtd), has expressed satisfaction with the successes of the Federal Government’s Amnesty Programme, saying it has tremendously enhanced stability and peace to the region.
Boroh, who stated this in Abuja at the weekend while fielding questions from journalists, said against the background of clear attempts at misinforming the public, the Amnesty Programme, under the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari has moved the programme from one of just training to empowerment.
The special adviser to the president said the resort to due process and accountability in the conduct of affairs of the Programme – a feat which has made it possible for the agency to pay the bills and entitlements of ex-agitators as at when due and also divest into other areas of sustaining and empowering the youth of the region, has further entrenched the success of the programme.
“The Amnesty Programme is on course, and has so far achieved its mandate of stabilising the peace in the Niger Delta region even as some disgruntled persons are spreading misleading information. The public should disregard the information aimed at causing disaffection as they are baseless.
“Several committees set up on our resumption of duty have made far reaching recommendations, which are being applied to the later. For instance aside massively reducing the number of consultants tied to the programme, we have moved from the past and instilled a proper and verifiable database which has become the basis for all our activities unlike in the past where there was no coherent and reliable database,” Boroh stated.
While thanking President Buhari for his continued support to the programme, the special adviser stated that as part of its efforts at smoothening communication between the office and vast number of ex-agitators under its care, it had not only established offices in the nine states covered by the programme but also opening up offices in the nation’s foreign missions abroad for easy coordination and goals delivery.
Boroh said that not only has massive verifiable debts incurred since 2012 been cleared, but that the Amnesty office has since moved to start the empowerment of ex-agitators in addition to the regular training of subjects under the office who are regularly monitored by the agency.
“We have cleansed the agency’s books and in the process weeded off a lot of interests which exposed the office to funds mismanagement and leakage in the past. So, we understand clearly why misinformation is going on in some quarters but the truth remains that we know we are stepping on toes but we won’t be distracted as under the present administration, the direct beneficiaries of the programme are our priority as that ensures stability in the region.
“Unfortunately for us, those who hitherto made this place their points and means of livelihood are finding it difficult to come to terms with our innovations and ideas and hence the fight back through misrepresentation and twisting of facts.
“We are helping the youths in this region to begin to think out of the box and look beyond oil and gas and become practically futuristic and hence the trainings, sensitisation and empowerment that they are receiving from us now,” Boroh added.
He called on the people of the Niger Delta to continue to support the present administration’s commitment to bring succour and make life meaningful to the Niger Delta youth and region despite the harsh economic challenges of the time.