…call on Buhari to appoint coordinator
By Chioma Nnodim
Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-agitators has kicked against the prolonged stay of members of the Interim Committee of the Presidential Amnesty Program meant to oversee the affairs of the Amnesty Office following the suspension of its coordinator.
In a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, the chairman of Amnesty Phase II, Delta State Chapter, Chief Kingsley Muturu, Peace Ambassador said that the continued stay of members of the interim committee was capable of derailing the objectives of the program and called on the President to appoint a substantive coordinator.
He argued that the committee mainly made up of individuals outside of Niger Delta region was not in the best position to run the program “as the members may not be abreast with the objectives for which the office was set up in the first place.”
The president had on February 28 suspended Professor Charles Dokubo, the coordinator of the Niger Delta Amnesty Program on allegations of fraud. While suspending Prof Dokubo, the president had called for the inauguration of an interim committee, whose task is “to ensure that allocated resources are properly utilized in consonance with the government’s objective of alleviating problems in the Niger Delta region and stamping out corruption in the Amnesty Programme.”
However, close to three months after the coming on board of the interim committee, the ex-agitators are alleging that “the committee is not faring any better on the term of reference given to them by the president. The committee has even stalled the smooth running of the program”, the statement read.
“We are not against the setting up of the interim committee, but we strongly believe that they have overstayed their welcome. They have stalled the running of the office thereby impacting negatively on the lofty objectives of the program, which includes amongst other things keeping the peace in the region.
“In keeping with our avowed stance on peace since we laid down our arms, we call on the president to expedite actions in appointing a substantive coordinator for the program or return Prof Dokubo who was only suspended and not sacked.
“We know the president means well for the region and wouldn’t deliberately do anything to undermine the peace in the region. This explains our grounds of passionate appeal to as a matter of urgency appoint a coordinator for the Amnesty Office so that the gains achieved so far shall not be rolled back,” the statement said.
Ambassador Muturu said the membership of the interim committee does not give hope that the members understand the region and how things work there “and this surely constitutes a clog in the wheel of progress made so far.”
