Date Published: 08/27/09

Editor Sir,

This Amnesty may not be working

If I were the federal government I would talk less of the ‘successes’ of the amnesty.  It is only fools that would agree that the militants are responding positively to the call. The boys are more intelligent that one can imagine.

Carefully consider the number of people that have come up to surrender and try to equate it with the number of arms such surrendered.  Take for instance those 70 militants in Rivers State that dropped only 34 of their AK-47 rifles, some hundreds of ammunitions and two gunboats. Arithmetically, it does mean that 2 militants use one AK-47 rifle. If not, then where are the balance 36 AK-47 rifles at least otherwise does it means that the 36 militants use bare hands in their combat? Can the government sincerely tell anyone that those arms surrendered are the whole which the boys have been using in their combatant fire-powers?

There is no need for pretences, the boys are only testing the waters and if they are allowed to go back to the creeks it would be more deadly and devastating.. Moreover, they continued to shout that some of their sponsors are in the Presidency yet President Yar’Adua is not saying anything about this revelation. What do you think the feelings of the boys would be? Of course, that sincerity in the exercise is lacking.

Good luck to all: The earlier government gets down to business of providing infrastructures to the area, the better.

Alhaji Musa Salem

Aguiyi Ironsi Street           ABUJA