N’Delta Stakeholders Allege NSA Monguno Is Orchestrating A Scheme To End The Amnesty Program  

Stakeholders in the Niger Delta region, including traditional leaders and former militant leaders, have alleged a plot to halt the amnesty program during the brief administration of Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd), the interim administrator of Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

They warned that instead of President Muhammadu Buhari and National Security Advisor Major General Babagana Mohammed Monguno (ret.) ending the program, Ndiomu, who was chosen to succeed Colonel Milland Dikio (ret. ), should be given the authority to decide how long it will continue.

They also urged the President and the NSA to give Major General Barry Tariye Ndiomu (retd), the recently appointed Interim Administrator, the remaining eight (8) months of his term to review the PAP and make recommendations to the succeeding administration by May 29, 2023.

The convener of the stakeholders and former militant leader, Chief Pere Agbeinfa while claiming that Ndiomu has been handed a six-month timeline to shut down the programme warned against the hasty scrapping over the programme considering the several implications on the nation’s security and the possible disruption of economic activities.

While pointing out that the Niger Delta region had been relatively peaceful, he warned that the closure of the Amnesty office may lead to an unimaginable crisis in the region that may lead to the disruption of the coming 2023 general elections and thwart the renewed campaign against crude oil theft from the Niger Delta region.

Chief Agbeinfa argued that there is no justification for the closure of the amnesty programme when the Federal Government is utilising billions of naira that have been exploited from the Niger Delta region for the training and rehabilitation of their so-called repentant Boko-Haram terrorists, and Islamic States of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists that have killed and maimed thousands of innocent Nigerians with millions of Nigerians displaced by their.

He seized the opportunity to congratulate General Ndiomu describing him as a leader capable of driving the development in the Niger Delta region; sustaining the tempo in the efforts to bridge the gap between the President Buhari led administration and the people of the Niger Delta region.

Chief Agbeinfa called for an interface between leaders of the amnesty programme and those charged with the renewed war against crude oil theft to ensure a stable and peaceful Niger Delta region, according to Daily Sun. 

“It is urgently necessary for a proper inter-agency line of communication with the PAP to be established for the crude oil and gas pipeline surveillance contractors across the region to interface, interact, and coordinate with ex-militants, youths, and stakeholders in the region. Muhammadu Buhari’s administration needs the Presidential Amnesty Programme now more than ever to partner with the PAP in monitoring and reducing oil theft, which has affected our nation’s oil and gas revenues.  

“The paradigm shift in the leaders of Amnesty Programme, and in the 30,000 ex-militants beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme, in terms of relative peace across the Niger Delta region, must be sustained by the presidency,” he said