4th September 2009. Press Release.
LAGOS AC RAISES POSERS OVER AMNESTY DEAL.
The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress has raised series of questions concerning the present amnesty package for Niger Delta militants. The party said that while it lauds the idea of the amnesty, certain features of the amnesty and its handling so far raise serious questions about the authenticity of the entire package.
In a release in Lagos, signed by the party’s Lagos State Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe, Lagos AC said that it welcomes the idea of amnesty but that it must be backed with full sincere commitments by all the parties involved if it will not end up as another huge joke. The party calls for full disclosure so that the nation will not be taken for another ride as has been the case with most government programmes in Nigeria for the past ten years.
“We laud the amnesty as a reasonable way of ending the Niger Delta crisis. We believe that a time has come for a truce to save what remains of the region from total anarchy. We however believe that the amnesty package must come with transparent sincerity for it to succeed. We have our fears if this important ingredient is not lacking in what is going on now as arms surrender by the repentant militants. We are put off by the acted scenarios and high drama that is being built into what should be a serious security issue. This has made us to rightly raise certain questions to ascertain the sincerity or otherwise of the amnesty deal.
“Lagos AC wishes to ask where the arms that are publicly being displayed now come from. We, and indeed, Nigerians will like to know who are keeping these arms. We want to ask who are being given charge of the surrendered arms. Is proper audit taken of these surrendered arms to ensure they don’t end up in the hands of the PDP, as had been the case in the past?
“Lagos AC wants to know if the arms being displayed now are from the militants or they were purchased by the various state governments in collaboration with the federal government to create a smokescreen to deceive Nigerians, as some leading militants have confessed? Is the entire scheme not another dubious attempt by the PDP to stockpile arms for the 2011 elections?
“Further more, Lagos AC and indeed most Nigerians will like to know the general outlay of the N50 billion amnesty deal. We want to know who benefits from the fund, why and the amount so that the amnesty fund would be openly audited for Nigerians to know who and who benefitted from it and his or her competence to so benefit. Let us warn that the amnesty financial package should not be another way of creating slush fund for PDP’s electoral roguery as we have known in the past?
“In view of all these therefore, Lagos AC calls for open and transparent handling of the entire amnesty package. We warn that employing the amnesty for political ends will rather worsen the atrophy in the Niger Delta presently. We state this because the Niger Delta crisis had its origin and present intractable nature in the effort of the PDP to rig the 2003 and 2007 general elections. We are seeing signs that warn of similar efforts in the present amnesty deal and we urge all Nigerians to be vigilant and watchful.”
Joe Igbokwe.
Publicity Secretary,
Lagos AC.
