Date Published: 01/21/10

N'Delta rebels hail ex-Ondo lawmaker, NDDC

UNREPENTANT rebels of the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil and gas basin, have singled out the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), an interventionist agency, and a former member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Kingsley Kuku for their roles in giving ex-militants a voice in the ongoing peace process in the volatile region.

The Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), an insurgent network, however, gave the Presidential Committee on Amnesty (PCA) chaired by Defence Minister, retired General Godwin Abbe, some knocks for allegedly not doing well enough.

Spokesperson for the JRC, Cynthia Whyte, in an on-line reaction to the PCA activities claimed that the post-amnesty process was not all-inclusive. 

''However, we wish to commend the Presidential Sub-committee on Rehabilitation which comprises of Kingsley Kuku, T.K.. Ogoriba and Selekaye Victor Ben for ensuring that key agitating units were allowed to make inputs to the workplan for rehabilitation of the PCA'', the rebels said.

They also commended the NDDC for providing what they described as ''first hand interventionist palliatives'' for ex-militant leaders who have genuinely accepted amnesty.

They claimed that NDDC has been the only government agency that has provided succour to ex-leaders of critical agitating groups across the oil region. 

JRC, a rebel network comprises alliance units of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), The Reformed Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (R-NDPVF), and The Martyrs Brigade. 

They were expressing their displeasure with the pace of the deployment of post amnesty rehabilitation and reconstruction activities by the PCA.

''We wish to state that activities and decisions of the PCA have been without recourse to the true aspirations of key elements within agitating ranks'', they said.

Continuing, they said, in a process driven by NDDC’s Esoetok Etteh, an architect and Emeritus President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Felix Tuodolor, ''ex-militant leaders have been given various opportunities to provide value to their communities and society''.

''We welcome this intervention and urge key stakeholders not to exploit the absence of Umar Yar’ Adua, President of the Nigerian state in the delivering timely rehabilitation strategies for those who have willingly dropped their arms in the pursuit of peace. If the right thing is not done in time, this peace will not last. Too many are too willing to return to the creeks''.