Daily Independent (Lagos)
Chesa Chesa
2 July 2009
Abuja — It emerged on Wednesday that the Chairman of the Presidential Panel on Disarmament and Grant of Amnesty to Militants in the Niger Delta, Godwin Abbe, is still "on course" with regard to implementing a presidential directive that he meets with detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Henry Okah, to offer him government amnesty deal.
Abbe, who briefed the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the progress of his committee's work, also denied media report that the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) prevented displaced villagers from returning home, stressing that only criminals were being prevented from infiltrating the genuine inhabitants.
The minister who also met with President Umaru Yar'Adua after the FEC meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, issued a statement afterwards saying that he is still "on course" with regard to implementing the presidential directive.
According to Abbe: "I already have the mandate of the President for the amnesty panel to reach out to Henry Okah and offer him the amnesty. We are on course with regard to the implementation of this directive".
The president had asked his committee to meet with Okah while diplomatic efforts are being made with Angola and Equatorial Guinea to finalise his release in a "couple of days" if he accepts the offer of amnesty.
The MEND on the other hand has insisted that the amnesty deal was conditional and that only the release of their leader could make them take government seriously.
In refuting the media report, Abbe said: "Contrary to the report, in compliance with the directive by President Yar'Adua that everything possible be done to facilitate the speedy rehabilitation of affected communities and their inhabitants, the JTF is taking steps to ensure that displaced persons can safely return home.
"The task force is, however, taking 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".
The Abbe committee, which met with stakeholders in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, was directed by FEC to work diligently for the speedy and successful conclusion of its important assignment to facilitate the restoration of law and order in the troubled region.
He also pointed out that "while the Federal Government remains fully committed to establishing these prerequisite conditions of peace and stability essential for the implementation of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's developmental agenda for the Niger Delta, it will continue to do everything within its powers to mitigate the impact of unavoidable security measures on law abiding inhabitants of the region".
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