We Are Part, Parcel Of N’Delta, Group Insists

Members of the Warri Consultative Forum (WCF) have stated that the Itsekiri ethnic nationality constitutes a key stakeholder in the Niger Delta region, and therefore, should also be considered for appointment as coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) with the sack of Prof. Charles Dokubo.
The Executive Secretary of the group, Mr. Gabriel Meni, made this request in a chat with newsmen in Warri, Delta State, yesterday, saying that they have not benefited from appointment at the PAP office since its establishment in spite of their huge financial contributions to the revenue profile of the country.
He stated that the amnesty programme was meant to cover indigenes of the nine mandate states, wondering why only persons from one ethnic group were considered fit for the position, a situation that makes the other groups non-relevant in the amnesty scheme.
Meni noted that disseminating nuisance by way of violence and pipeline vandalism and economic sabotage was not the preserve of any tribe, adding that the Federal Government should not give the wrong impression that it was only interested in dancing to the whims and caprices of only those that have exhibited furious violence and belligerency.
The WCF frowned at rumours making the rounds that persons of Northern origin were being considered for appointment into an interim management committee to oversee the management of the Office of the Presidential Amnesty Programme until a substantive coordinator was appointed, wondering what a northerner has to do with the PAP considering that it was the programme that engendered the current peace and tranquillity in the region that has led to sustained oil and gas production and exploration activities till date.
“It has been revealed that the National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen Babagana Monguno has been mandated to set up an interim management committee to oversee the running of the affairs of the PAP until further notice with the following persons being pencilled down already, viz: Mr. A.A. Lawal as chairman; Col. Udoma as secretary; Mr. Anthony S.A. (Legal) and Brig-Gen Mohammed as director of Finance and Administration, respectively”.
The WCF pointed out that the PAP was an interventionist agency meant to address the agitations of the region only and not meant for all Nigerians, and therefore, should not be politicized by way of federal character appointment as interventionist agencies in the North do not have persons from other regions appointed amongst them.
While charging President Muhammadu Buhari not to succumb to pressure to re-awaken hostilities in the peaceful region by appointing northerners into the interim management committee, the WCF tasked him on the appointment of an Itsekiri man as PAP coordinator this time around to give them and others a sense of belonging, adding that doing otherwise was an invitation to another round of anarchy and gross disruption in oil and gas production operations.