This Day (Lagos)
George Oji
3 November 2009
Abuja — The Presidential Committee on Amnesty yesterday described as false claims by leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Henry Okah, that there were still undeclared arms and ammunition by militants in the oil region.
Okah made the claim while speaking with Al-Jazeera television yesterday but in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Timiebi Koripamo Agary, spokesperson of the committee, said if the ex-MEND leader was so sure of his claims, he should come forward to disclose to government the whereabouts of the undeclared arms.
Also reacting to the same claim, Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva said: "I watched it yesterday on Al Jazeera and we believe it must be an old interview because we can't be expecting Henry Okah to be talking like that at this time, it must be an old interview. I want everybody to disregard it completely and make sure that we go forward with the amnesty programme".
Said Agary: "I believe that most of the militants are out of the creeks; all the known militant leaders are out and if he knows anything else beyond what we know, I think he needs to disclose to us."
She, however, appealed to Okah to "join the peace process. There is peace in the Niger Delta and we are all enjoying peace and I think I want him to join in consolidating this peace. He should do that because Mr. President is reaching out to all the leaders including him. And I think he needs to respect that office. The office of Mr. President is reaching out to him to discuss the way forward."
She said as one of the first militant leaders to embrace amnesty, Okah should join every other person working for peace in the region "so that we can move on with our lives and create the enabling environment for the development of the region and for the participation in the oil and gas sector".
On the number of ex-militants who are currently undergoing documentation, Agary said: "I can't give you the exact number, but we have them in camps in Rivers, Delta States. There is going to be a meeting with militant leaders tomorrow and I think the picture of the rehabilitation will be discussed with them and thereafter the various programme will commence.
"I believe that everything is on course and government is striving to do all it can to make sure that all issues that relate to the militants are addressed and of course the physical issues of development are also addressed so I believe that everything is on course and the documentation process is in progress."
Responding to the claims that the rehabilitation process for ex-militants was slow, Agary said: "I am not sure it's slow. We had a lot of the militant leaders embracing amnesty on the 3rd and on the 4th [of last month] and they all have a lot of followers and the documentation process take some time and we are about to conclude that process and as soon as we conclude the process of documenting the followers of these leaders we will commence the process of training, reorientation and the preliminary process of integration before the programme of individual militants takes place."
Asked when the documentation process would be concluded, she said: "I am not on the field now, but it is going to be concluded very soon, may be in the next one week or two".
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 This Day. 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.
