Niger Delta amnesty has become a sham – Ogoni group
THE SUN
President of Ogoni Liberation Initiative, Douglas Fabeke, has described the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) as a sham.
Fabeke spoke at the maiden presentation of a monthly international magazine titled “The Niger Delta Focus”, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday.
He noted that the vision of the amnesty programme was being truncated even before its commencement.
The OLI leader regretted that the efforts of the Niger Delta leaders on rehabilitating the ex-militants through the amnesty programme has not been achieved.
He said: “Thus, amnesty was given to Niger Delta boys and I was part of the consultants to Niger Delta amnesty.
“I single-handedly brought out 650 youths from creek. When I was moving into some places, some people were running, some government officials were running. And the first day I was to be kidnapped, shot to death at Eleme, my partner also ran away.
“We wrote a letter to the government and they merged us up with ITF and politicians changed the direction. I met Mr President once and he asked me where I come from and I replied that I am an indigene of Ogoni. When he learnt that I am an Ogoni, he changed his plan.
“Anytime you reject an Ogoni, you will fail because so much blood has been spilled on that soil.
“See today, Niger Delta amnesty; what fruit do we get from it? About N6 trillion wasted by the Niger Delta Amnesty.
“The amnesty programme is a sham because nothing came out of it. The reason for the amnesty programme was for peace. So, how do we make peace when there is no job creation?
“The Niger Delta programme is supposed to give birth to industries; some students were sent to be trained for agriculture and others, trained abroad.
“So, if these youths are coming back home, where are they going to work? So, the programme is a sham. It has not given us any result. It was an avenue they just siphone the money from Niger Delta.”
Also, speaking on the lingering disagreement over the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni and the recent judgement on Oil Mining Licence (OML) 11, Fabeke disclosed that Shell Petroleum Development Company has declared that they would not continue with the appeal.
“When that judgement was given on Friday, I said government you must come tell our people that Shell has gone and you want to come and you cannot manipulate Shell back and they came.
“What I did was to open door for Ogoni people to discuss their matter. What was going on was to set the land free. I want to say it to you all that Shell said they want to withdraw their appeal. They are not interested to appeal that case again and very soon, we are going to hear the handing over. Ogoni must be free.”