Daily Trust (Abuja)
Muideen Olaniyi
2 July 2009
Abuja — The Federal Government has dismissed a report suggesting that the military Joint Task Force (JTF) is stopping people displaced in the recent operations against militants in Niger Delta from returning.
Minister of Interior, Major Gen. Godwin Abbe (rtd) who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Panel on Disarmament and Grant of Amnesty to Militants in the Niger Delta denied the report in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
The Minister said that contrary to the media report, the Federal Government is committed to the welfare of the displaced people in compliance with the directive by President Umaru Musa Yar'adua that everything possible be done to facilitate the speedy rehabilitation of affected communities and their inhabitants.
He said the JTF is taking steps to ensure that displaced persons can safely return home while necessary measures to keep criminal elements out of the communities, ensure that only the genuine inhabitants return and that the people are protected from the activities of criminal opportunists who may want to take advantage of the situation are being taken.
On the work of the panel which he headed, the Minister said he has already got the mandate of the President for the amnesty panel to reach-out to Henry Okah and offer him the amnesty, adding that the panel was on course with regard to the implementation of the directive.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
