The Niger Delta Frontier Movement, NDFM has called on the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government to appoint a new Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs from another ethnic tribe for inclusiveness with the need to build a sense of belonging among all ethnic nationalities in the region noting that the Programme shouldn’t be an exclusive preserve of one tribe.
The Goodluck Opia-led group made this call on the President at a well-attended meeting of critical stakeholders from the region noting that doing so will end the avoidable sense of entitlement to the program by one single tribe.
Specifically, Opia told the president to appoint a SAP from the Urhobo ethnic group stating that Urhobo nation constitute the largest homogeneous entity in the region and are deserving of such appointment in this era of Renewed Hope to mark a new beginning in the annals of the programme.
He noted that past governments had sustained what he described as lopsided appointment into that office in the past as he noted that the region belongs to all and sundry stressing that no record – the world over shows that any tribe has oil and gas more than Urhoboland in the region.
The Movement stated further that among the ethnic groups in that region, none has shown commitment to peace and tranquillity more than Urhobo nation.
He added that long before and after the then renewed insurgency in the Delta region, Urhobo nation has been in the forefront of building peace and national cohesion more than any tribe, particularly that tribe that has always been appointed. “Urhobo speaking people of Delta State are not known to be confrontational or recalcitrant in nature. They have always demonstrated deep understanding and friendship due to their known culture of peace.”
He called on the office of the National Security Adviser to the President, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the Secretary to the Federal Government, SGF, George Akume, under whose office the appointment is made to eschew nepotism in the next appointment to the office of the PAP to mark a departure from the past when people just recommend personalities without due diligence and for pecuniary gains, saying, “The programme needs somebody with indepth knowledge of the region, particularly the regional politics to man the office.”
“Right from the beginning of the Programme,” the group noted, “The FG has deliberately ignored and denied other ethnic nations the right to manage the affairs of the office saying retired military officers most of whom were appointed in the past don’t even know the beneficiaries of the programme let alone be in touch with the realities on the ground and this he said has hampered the would-have-been success of the intervention agency.”
“Appointments of the Amnesty boss in the past,” Opia stated, “negates the spirit and soul of the founding fathers of the programme,” maintaining, “At inception, the office was led by non retired military personnel, who laid a good foundation for the development and growth of the programme but subsequent appointments ran in contrary to the good of the programme”
“In the region there are Ndokwa, Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Itsekiri and other nationalities, who have not been considered fit and proper for appointment into the office but deliberately, the government has sustained lop-sidedness in its choice of persons appointed to the office as he called on the President to look elsewhere this time around.
“The programme,” the Movement stated, “Was intended to intervene in the development and growth of the people and the region but regretted that the issues that necessitated the establishment of the agency are still very much present in the region and that the only way to achieve result is for the government to look elsewhere by appointing an ex-militant leader from other tribes especially from Urhoboland to man that office arguing that, only that can guarantee success and bring succour to the people.”
“The training of ex-militants, youths and persons by the Amnesty office he noted have been such that favours only one tribe while others are scantily included saying; the Renewed Hope mantra of the present administration shouldn’t be in the papers alone without commensurate actions intended to improve the lives of the people and the environment in action.
He gave less than average score to the management of the programme over the years while asking the government to try a new approach with the aim to ensure that the people are happy for it without retaining the regime of ethnic imbalance in the choice of who leads the programme.
Regrettably, the group noted that rather than add value to the lives of the people, the programme has been skewed to favour certain group while making it a cash-cow for gullible individuals within the presidency undermining the good of the larger population; this attitude it said must change for the better so that the efforts of those who took the gauntlet of confrontation against the system in the past won’t be in vain.
“The office is a special intervention agency aimed at addressing the wrongs of the past by balancing development and growth as against the marginalisation of the people of Niger Delta region but unfortunately most of our people who were appointed to manage the office chose to grow their bank accounts at the detriment of the larger population.
“Billions of naira had been voted for that office in the past with little or no visible development on ground to show for the humongous amounts budgeted for that office and its most unfortunate. This is why we are calling on the government to look elsewhere in the appointment of a new Chairman for Presidential Amnesty Programme and Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs to re-engineer a new amnesty programme. In this regard, the Urhobo nation has never been appointed to the office and this is the time the FG should look in that direction by appointing an Urhobo man to manage the programme for the betterment of all. We owe posterity a duty of responsibility, particularly taking the dividends of that office to all and sundry without preferential considerations,” the Ukwani Local Government Area, Delta State-born activist stated.
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