South-south Leader and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Senator Edwin Clark, has advised the Federal Government not to scrap the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, as being speculated and call a halt to anything that will abbreviate the delicate peace in the Niger Delta region.
“Just about 11 days ago, I advised and cautioned the Vice President, His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to tread cautiously on Niger Delta Affairs, I have cause to, again, advice/warn the Federal Government to desist from anything that will truncate the fragile peace that we have in the Niger Delta region.
“I say this because, just yesterday, (Sunday) rumours were rife, that the four-man Investigative Panel headed by Amb. A. A. Lawal, set up by the Federal Government, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Mohammed Monguno (retd), to look into the activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), has recommended the scrapping of the Programme by December this year, 2020.
“The Federal Government, like I said earlier, through the Office of the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno, retd, set up a 4-man Investigative Panel headed by Amb. A. A. Lawal, from Bauchi State and other three northerners as members, on 28th February, 2020, and the job of this Panel, which all through its sitting, I understand, sat in the Office of the NSA, which was to end on 24th April, 2020, has lingered until today,
“They have, up till this moment, taken over the administration of the PAP, operating from the NSA’s Office. Now we are getting information, that this ‘Investigative Panel’ is recommending the scrapping of the PAP by December this year, 2020.
“If this is true, it will be an epic example of what we say in local parlance ‘trouble dey sleep, yanga go wake am’. This is not a threat; it is stating the obvious of what will actually happen. Once again, I wish to advise the Federal Government to tread cautiously, except they have prepared another ‘Operation Crocodile Smile’. Wake not a sleeping lion. This is not a threat; it is a clarion call for peace.
“When I got this information yesterday, my temper was high because how can a region which contributes so much to the economic growth, and by extension, political and social growth of the country be treated with so much disdain and spite.
“The question is: Did Amb. Lawal and his team ever travel to the Niger Delta region to find out if the objective of setting up the Programme such as infrastructural development of sand filling; building low cost houses, building roads, etc,, which are to be carried out by the PAP as its aecond phase activities contained in the Proclamation been achieved? As someone outside of the region does he really understand or feel the sufferings of the people of the region?
“Also, what measures have been put in place by the Federal Government to fulfill its promises to the region such as setting up modular refineries, the relocation of the operational headquarters of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the Ogoni clean-up as contained in the 16-point agenda of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, which we presented to Mr. President at the Presidential Villa on 1st November, 2017? He said.
The elder statesmen asserted: “Our living condition in the region has worsened. The PAP should be allowed to continue for some more time. I recall the sacrifices some of us made before a compromise of setting up the Presidential Amnesty Programme was arrived at.”
His words: “As at the time when former President Olusegun Obasanjo handed over to the late Presidnt Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, there were too many issues bothering on the neglect and deprivation of the coastal Niger Delta region. As leaders, we tried several ways to resolve these issues. We were able to reach a compromise with former President Obasanjo and that gave rise to the setting up of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 1999.”
“But this did not solve the perennial problems of neglect in the region. So our children, understandably, decided to take their fate into their own hands. They took over oil platforms, insisting that oil production should be stopped if the aftermath of the activities in the region cannot be addressed. This matter escalated.
“I again recall that on a particular day in 2009, during the tenure of late President Yar’Ardua, with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as his Vice, I was invited to go to Oporoza Town, the headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom, as Father of the Day, to mark their annual festival. But I could not go personally, so I sent someone to represent me.
“By midday, I got a phone call from my representative that the festival could not hold because the Nigerian military has invaded the Kingdom; he said that as matter of fact, he was talking to me from the mangrove swamps, where they had gone into hiding, because the attacks were coming from all fronts, the Navy attacking from the sea, the Air Force was bombarding from the air, and the Army was attacking from the land; there was so much casualty, the communities that make up the Kingdom, Oporoza, Okerenkoko, Kurutie, had been destroyed.
“On getting that information, I made frantic efforts to reach the authorities concerned, from the President to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, to the Minister of Defence, General Godwin Abbe (rtd), all to no avail. The next thing I woke with two medical doctors standing over me, when I asked what had happened, I was told I had passed out and my blood pressure had risen to 180/100, so they had to call in the doctors.
“Having regained consciousness, I called the then Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who was away in Sweden on official duties to please return home, that his home was burning. He listened to my plea and returned the next day.
“The Federal Government started holding meetings with us, with Mr. President and Mr. Vice President actively involved in the meetings. It was during these meetings, that it was resolved, and the Federal Government decided to set up a Presidential Amnesty Programme to deal wisely with the matter, asking that the youths, our children, who have taken up arms, to fight for their ’emancipation’, should drop their arms and they will be granted amnesty, a programme under which they will be trained both in formal and informal education, and stipends given to them while the programmes are going on.
“It took several efforts on our part as leaders and elders of the region to convince these children, and with apprehension too on our part, because we were not sure of our safety as the youths were prepared for the worst, therefore anything could happen.
“We sent several Ijaw personalities including Amb. Godknows Igali, who was then the Secretary to Bayelsa State Government, former retired high ranking military officers from the region like, Brig. Gen. Stanley Diriyai (rtd), Gen. Aper (rtd), Gen. John Yeri (rtd), and other prominent Ijaw men. These illustrious sons took the risk of going into the creeks pleading with the youths to lay down their arms and embrace the amnesty programme.
