AMNESTY OFFICE ORDERS ARREST OF 35 LEADERS OF NIGER DELTA EX-AGITATORS

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA

PRESIDENTIAL AMNESTY PROGRAMME

PRESS STATEMENT

AMNESTY OFFICE ORDERS ARREST OF 35 LEADERS OF NIGER DELTA EX-AGITATORS

The Amnesty Office today handed over to security agencies in Abuja 35 leaders of Niger Delta ex-agitators enrolled under Phase Two of the Presidential Amnesty Programme. This became inevitable given the incessant harassment and intimidation of officials of the office, including the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, by these persons, to subvert the provisions of the 2012 budget and channel the allowances meant for 6,166 other persons in the programme to just these leaders. At a meeting with officials of the Amnesty Office in Abuja on Tuesday 25 September, 2012, the leaders of the ex-agitators threatened to disrupt social and economic activities in sensitive governmental places in Abuja if their request to have the Transition Safety Allowance (TSA) proposed for 6,166 persons enrolled in the second phase of the amnesty programme was not immediately paid out directly to them and not to all the enrolled persons as enshrined in the 2012 budget. At this meeting, Hon. Kuku painstakingly explained to the leaders that the Federal Government will never accede to this demand to divert or channel funds meant for 6,166 persons to just the leaders, who are less than 100. Kuku further clarified in his discussions with the leaders that extant financial regulations do not permit any Ministry, Department and Agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria to pay money to persons or services other than as clearly spelt out as a line item in the budget. In the 2012 budget for the Presidential Amnesty Programme, provision was made for the payment of a stipulated sum as Transition Safety Allowance to each of the 6,166 persons enlisted in the second phase of the programme. But, some of the leaders of the ex-agitators are insisting that the total sum so budgeted for the 6,166 be shared out to them alone. All efforts by Hon. Kuku to persuade them to understand that their request was illegal and thus untenable failed as they continued to threaten to unleash mayhem in Abuja. The Special Adviser therefore resolved to hand the leaders of the ex-agitators to security agencies so as to nip in the bud any untoward act. It has become important to reiterate, once again, the commitment of Hon. Kuku to the transparent, accountable and tenacious implementation of the Presidential Amnesty Programme as demanded by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. It should be recalled that last week the Amnesty Office notified the public of the unrelenting plot by certain persons to discredit both the Amnesty Programme and its chief driver, Hon. Kuku. The Office views the unnecessary and unwarranted demand of these leaders for the payment of bulk sums of money meant for other persons to them as one of such plots. The Amnesty Office shall continue to resist these attempts to rubbish a programme that has ensured the stability of the security situation in the Niger Delta.

Daniel Alabrah Head,
Media and Communications Presidential Amnesty Office
Tuesday, September 25, 2012