Alaibe enjoys confidence of ex-militants –Appah

Posted by admin Niger Delta Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

In reactions to calls from some quarters that the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Affairs, Mr. Timi Alaibe, who is handling the post-amnesty programme of the federal government, be removed, the authorities of the Obubra camp have stated that the former militants have confidence in the ability of the president’s aide to midwife the programme to conclusive success.

This view was expressed by Camp Administrator, Ekpein Appah, who said the amnesty programme was on course as no fewer than 12,000 former militants have passed through the Obubra camp in Cross River State and have been purged of their hitherto violent behaviours.

Appah, who spoke to journalists in the camp in Obubra, said those persecuting Alaibe were doing so for no just cause.

“ Even Jesus Christ was killed by his own people, but today, 2,000 years after his death, he is still making waves. Timi cannot be different from any other leader. We are even aware that people have been called to come and replace Timi and they said they cannot do it. This is an enormous job. You need a lot of contacts.

“Timi has been a Niger Delta man. He schooled in Kayama, where Isaac Adaka Boro came from. He is not that type who stays abroad and does not have contacts at home. So these boys have confidence in Timi. But again when someone like Togo says he is not going with this amnesty; we know who Togo is. Criminals cash in on this amnesty.

“You will discover that even your own children, you prepare the best food for them; one of them would say he does not want it. So, we have such elements”, Appah said.

He said out of the over 12,000 that have been trained in the camp over 8,000 have already been deployed to various training centres in Nigeria and abroad.

Appah said despite few noticeable problems, Alaibe has given his all for the amnesty programme to succeed hence, the former militants are not complaining due to the success the programme has attained.

He said, “Nobody is saying that Timi is a saint, but he has given his all to ensure this thing succeeds. Timi does not embark on unsuccessful ventures. We know him. We saw it in NDDC (Niger Delta Development Commission). There may be faults here and there, but they are insignificant. In every project, you expect some two per cent, five per cent error. But that should be an excellent score. This programme is a huge success.” Appah said the current batch (11) in camp would be the last for the year and that the handlers of the amnesty training are working to ensure that at least 13,000 of the former militants get the training before the end of this year.

He said contrary to earlier reports , there is no single disabled in this batch, which he said are made up mostly of female former militants, some of them pregnant women and nursing mothers.

“This would be the last batch for the year. We are working towards achieving that 13, 000 so that we are looking at another 7, 000 when we come back. But this batch was supposed to have women and disabled persons coming in, but the figure I gave is about 330 for the female and 80 for the disabled, as at now we have no disabled inn this camp. The women on the other hand are overwhelming. We were expecting 330, but we now have 713. The men are also here, but they are not as much as the women. They are from Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states.

“The camp is filled with women. The interesting thing is that when we were preparing for these women, we saw them as young girls coming in for training. As I am talking to you, we have nothing less than 50 pregnant women in camp, and we are still expecting some more. From the look of things we are looking at an estimate of 80 pregnant women in this batch. We even expect that one or two may give birth in camp. They are to leave here on the 20th. Then we also have nursing mothers. They are children ranging from the ages 11 days to four years. Some of them did not come prepared for the cold in Obubra, the harmattan.

“We had to make arrangements to buy sweaters, we had to make arrangements to buy custard, ground crayfish, buckets, heaters and quarter them in a special place and then assign someone to attend to them, because they must leave their children to go to classes. So the person will take care of them while they are in classes. They came here for training, and while their children are taken care of they will be in training”, he said.

Appah said the camp management is ready for any problem as they are solution providers.

According to him, the pregnant women and the nursing mothers would participate in all the activities in the Obubra camp that the former militants are meant to undergo.

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