Amnesty: Don’t blackmail President Buhari – Niger Delta group warns aggrieved APC youths

The National Coordinator of the group, Chief Moses Bebenimibo, in a statement on Thursday, said the Niger Delta agitators who embraced amnesty were not divided along party lines.

Bebenimibo cautioned the APC youths against using the platform of the agitators to blackmail the authorities with the alleged intent to score “needless political goals and targeted pecuniary benefits.”

The NDAGG coordinator described the statement credited to the “amorphous group” as a brazen and unconscionable attempt to cause avoidable division in the ranks of Niger Delta people involved in the agitation for fairness in resource allocation and good governance in the country.

He said true agitators who were motivated by patriotism and the genuine interest of the Niger Delta would not draw a line between APC and PDP Niger Deltans.

Bebenimibo also called on the Federal Government to discountenance the call by some “merchants of mischief” to sack the Interim Administrator of the PAP, Col Dikio Dixon (retd.), for allegedly engaging non-APC members in the office.

He said the “crude sentiments” expressed by the aggrieved ex-agitators, who called on the Federal Government to make APC membership as a condition for engagement in the Amnesty Office, is condemnable and a recipe for division and avoidable unrest.

The NDAGG coordinator commended Buhari for the appointment of an Ijaw son as the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

Bebenimibo, who also thanked the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), for recommending Dixon, urged the President to give him free rein to take the requisite steps to reposition the PAP.

He said the culture of impunity and diversion of the objectives of the PAP would continue unless Dixon embarked on tough, deliberate and decisive steps to enthrone sanity in the agency.

He advised Dixon to be focused and strong to be able to ward off the “traditional blackmail responsible largely for the sorry story of impunity, waste, corruption in the Amnesty Office.”

The NDAGG coordinator advised ex-agitators and stakeholders to exhibit maturity and patience with the new Amnesty boss as he embarked on steps to reposition the office to make it effectively responsive to beneficiaries, the region and the country.

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