No more amnesty for ex-militants -Jonathan

Posted by admin Latest Politics, Niger Delta Sunday, December 11th, 2011

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has condemned in strong terms the blocking of the Lokoja-Abuja highway by some 1,600 ex-militants last Thursday, adding that there will be no amnesty for anybody caught in any criminal act anymore.

The president said this through his Special Adviser on Niger Delta Matters, Honourable Kingsley Kuku, on Sunday, insisting that the ex-militants could not blackmail the government through such unacceptable display of illegality as an avenue to be enlisted in the amnesty programme.

According to him, there would be no third phase of the programme, as the final window given for disarmament had closed since October 4, 2009 when the timeline for amnesty programme expired.

He described the style adopted by the 1,600 ex-militants seeking to be included in the amnesty programme as offensive, blackmail and a clear breach of national security that must be condemned by all right-thinking Nigerians.

He said: “Those who think they can destabilise this country through illegality should explore other avenues to seek employment and empowerment opportunities through another avenue, as there would be no further phase of the amnesty programme.”

Kuku warned the ex-militants, saying resorting to breach of public peace by taking law into their own hands was against the spirit of non-violence, for which genuine ex-militants were known.

He explained that it would be completely out of place for anybody to doubt that the post-amnesty programme had succeeded, warning detractors who did not believe in the programme at the point of disarmament not to erode the many benefits the programme had brought to the Niger Delta region, as well as the entire country.

Kuku, who spoke at a pre-departure orientation ceremony in Lagos, where 214 ex-militants were sent to India for vocational training under the post-amnesty programme, said that the training would take between six and nine months in electrical installation, under water welding, auto mechanics, pipeline fitting, crane operations, as well as non-destructive testing.

He explained that the batch of 214 ex-Niger Delta militants billed for India was the largest batch to be deployed for training in any country.

According to him, the sending of the 214 ex-militants to India for different vocational training programmes brought to about 2,214 youths, who were undergoing various vocational programmes in countries across the globe.

He explained that apart from the 20,192 ex-agitators that enrolled in the first phase of the programmes that have been fully demobilised at the Amnesty office demobilisation camp in Obubra, Cross River State, the demobilisation of the second batch of 6,166 ex-militants that enlisted in the second phase will round off their non-violence transformational training by December 20, 2011.

Kuku affirmed that following the completion of the non-violence training and career classification in the camp, the amnesty office had successfully placed a total of 7, 556 ex-militants in skills acquisition/training centres as well as in formal education centres, both in the country and offshore, even as he said several others were being processed for placement in re- integration centres.

-Tribunewp_posts