Following the intervention of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, over 1500 Niger Delta militants have expressed their desire to embrace amnesty and surrender arms to the federal government.
The commanders from Arepo, Ikorodu, Abule, Fatorla, Ibafo, Magboro, Epe, Itokin, Ilepete, Okenekene, Agric, Gbokoda camps, Camp 5 and environs, in a statement made available to Daily Sun, expressed their desire to surrender arms and embrace the amnesty program as long as the federal government is sincere in its intentions.
The groups hinged their decision on the peaceful approach of Kachikwu, even as they declared that all Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) facilities and its subsidiaries must work for the betterment of Nigeria and the economic efficiency in the face of dwindling oil prices.
The statement signed by General OC Babaeere and General America Tekeiminikpoba on behalf of other commanders, said:
“We write to express our desire to surrender our armsand embrace the amnesty program as long as the federal government is sincere.“With the timely intervention of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, we the Commanders from Arepo Camp, Ikorodu Camp, Abule Camp, Fatorla Camp, Camp 5, Ibafo Camp, Magboro Camp, Epe Camp, Itokin Camp, Ilepete Camp, Okenekene Camp, Agric Camp, Gbokoda Camp and their environs, have made upour minds to accept amnesty because of the peaceful approach of the Minister of State for Petroleum.“We also agree that all NNPC facilities and its subsidiaries must work for the betterment of Nigeria and the economic efficiency in the face of dwindling oil prices.“However,our willingness to surrender should not be seen as an act of cowardice, rather, as an act of patriotism.“Also, as we accept this amnesty, it is important to state that the first amnesty was not holistic and was characterized with fraud and fraudulent selections. We were not included in that amnesty program. Even as we tried all avenues to join the program, we were ignored completely,”the commanders said.
While wondering why the Kingsley Kuku-led administration of the Amnesty program had not been probed, the group drummed-up support for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The statement further read:
“We are using this opportunity to call on all Nigerians to work with Mr. President to enable Nigeria move ahead.“So, as we have agreed to come out, we state that we should be properly co-opted into the amnesty program. This is very important because we have skills and very vast knowledge and experience in the region. We have farmers, ship captains, ship engineers, divers, technicians, welders et cetera, and we have lived all our life in the region. Therefore, we understand every inch of the region.“Suffice to say that we have integrity. We believe in the peaceful dialogue and peace initiative by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, and we will wait patiently for the response of the federal government so that we all can move Nigeria forward,”the statement read.
