Ebikeme (not real name) successfully attended the Amnesty Orientation Camp
\nat Obubra in Cross River State some years ago.<\/p>\n
Almost three years after, he has not been pencilled down for any of the
\nPresidential Amnesty Programme’s Skills\/Vocational Training Programmes and
\nso he had no choice but fall to the advice of a friend who wanted him to
\njoin a lucrative oil theft racket with a heavy but covert presence in the
\nSouthern Ijaw area of Bayelsa State.<\/p>\n
Ebikeme in turn, has enlisted more than fourteen (14) of his former Obubra
\ncamp mates and today they live pretty comfortable lives working with their
\nnon-Nigerian partners who provide them with the technical know-how and
\ntechnological tools to access crude oil through large pipes that pass
\nthrough certain strategic locations in their communities.<\/p>\n
Ebikeme and his colleagues do not feel guilty in what they do. They
\nactually believe that ‘oil theft’ (as the government would like to call
\nit) is far better and more honorable than kidnapping and hostage taking.
\nThey believe that they are from oil producing communities and since the
\nAmnesty programme is not ready to draft them for its ‘many training
\nprogrammes’, they should at least find a way to eke a living.<\/p>\n
However, the truth is that before Ebikeme and his colleagues chose to go
\nto work on oil pipelines and channel its products for themselves and their
\nsponsors, their names had been replaced at the Amnesty office with people
\nwho were not at all involved in the armed agitation in the Niger Delta
\nsometimes in connivance with some of the former militant leaders from
\nBayelsa and Delta state.<\/p>\n
In the end, non-militants are ferried to training institutions around the
\nworld while the true ex-militants are left to their fate in their
\ncommunities. Little wonder they are all now heading for the pipelines and
\nNigeria is again crying for it. Billions of dollars worth of crude oil has
\nbeen channelled away from pipelines in the creeks to waiting vessels
\noffshore.<\/p>\n
Kingsley Kuku, head of the amnesty office, in active connivance with some
\nof the former militant leaders, replaces the names of the true militants
\nwith non-militants including some from Non-Niger Delta communities and
\nthen awards educational scholarships as well as training scholarships to
\nthese non-militants. In frustration and having being betrayed by some of
\ntheir leaders, some of these young lads resort to oil facility sabotage so
\nthat they can survive and sustain their families but we believe that some
\nare beginning to prefer it over the Amnesty Programme itself.<\/p>\n
Fortunately enough, it is not all the militant leaders that have betrayed
\nthose that they led. Some others have come out to publicly condemn the
\nhideous activities that have been going on at the Presidential Amnesty
\nProgramme.<\/p>\n
We commend our leaders Asari Dokubo, General Boyloaf, General Egberipapa
\nand the many others who have stood on the path of truth and have chosen to
\nspeak up for their many members who have been cut off from a program that
\nwas supposed to help improve their lives.<\/p>\n
We condemn the ex-militant leaders assembly led Pastor Reuben which has,
\nfor some time now, for a small fee, been used to blackmail legitimate
\nex-militant leaders through paid advertisements and media interviews. In
\nthe past few months, they have each enjoyed Five million naira (N5
\nmillion) cash payments and then all expense paid trips to South Africa
\nJUST so that they will be WILLING to fall to Kingsley Kuku’s efforts to
\njaundice our cause. And FALL they did.<\/p>\n
Posterity will indeed punish them.<\/p>\n
We commend the leaders of the Niger Delta Awareness Coalition (NDAC) who
\nhave for months now been assisting us on how to use the power of
\nEnlightenment, Awareness & Education to engage the media and alert the
\npublic on the despicable fraud that now pervades the Presidential Amnesty
\nProgramme.<\/p>\n
We have nothing against President Goodluck Jonathan BUT it will be a shame
\nfor the President not to see that there are leeches around him that work
\nhard to destroy every little success that he may have gained. These
\nleeches even blackmail the President behind his back. Yet the President
\ncontinues to keep them. How unfortunate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Diepreye J Dikibo<\/p>\n
Publicity Secretary<\/p>\n
Ex Militant Leaders Forum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ebikeme (not real name) successfully attended the Amnesty Orientation Camp at Obubra in Cross River State some years ago. Almost three years after, he has not been pencilled down for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n