Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Now Sham, Says Ogoni Leader

Niger Delta Amnesty Programme, Now  Sham, Says Ogoni Leader

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The President of Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI), Dr. Douglas Fabeke, has described the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) as a sham.

Fabeke, who spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the median presentation of a monthly international magazine titled: ‘The Niger Delta Focus’, stressed that the vision of the amnesty programme was truncated even before its commencement.

He regretted that the efforts of the Niger Delta leaders to rehabilitate the ex-militants through the amnesty programme have not been achieved.

Fabeke narrated the process of the establishment of the programme which he disclosed that he participated fully.
According to him, “I wrote a proposal to them President Goodluck Jonathan, he saw the proposal and acknowledged it as one of the best, thus Amnesty was given to Niger Delta boys, and I was part of the consultants to Niger Delta amnesty.
“I single handedly brought out 650 youths from the creek. When I was moving into some places, some people were running, some government officials were running away. And the first day I was to be kidnapped and shot to death at Eleme, my partner also ran away.

“We wrote a letter to the government and they merged us up with ITF, but politicians changed the direction. I met the president once, and he asked me where I came from and I replied that am an indigene of Ogoni. When he learnt that I am an Ogoni, he changed his plan.

“Anytime you reject an Ogoni, you will fail because so much blood has been spilled on that soil. In their own way, I took them to Dubai, the Senate Committee on Niger Delta that was supposed to come up with a vision to make the amnesty sustainable, and we made the best recommendation and I brought the foreigners into it.

“Today, what fruit do we get from the Niger Delta Amnesty? About N6triliion has been wasted on the Niger Delta Amnesty. We wanted to make sure that the programme have an impact, and we went with Senate Committee Chairman, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa to Emirate Government, who was supposed to release the $4.5billion to build an industrial centre in Niger Delta, which I am still fighting till today.

“When we arrived there, the government received us, and the day we want to make the presentation, all the Senators slept off in their hotel because last night they were all in the club. The only man that came out was Okowa and one northerner senator. And we end up signing a contract with Etisalat who wanted to release over $4billion through our designed project to invest and make the programme sustainable.

“The amnesty programme is a sham because nothing came out of it. The reason for the amnesty programme was for peace. So, how do we make peace when there is no job creation? The Niger Delta programme is supposed to give birth to industries; some students were sent to be trained for agriculture and others abroad.

“So, if these youths come back home, where are they going to work. So it’s a sham; it has not given us any result, it was an avenue to just siphon the money from the Niger Delta.”
Also, speaking on the lingering disagreement over the resumption of oil exploration in Ogoni and the recent judgement on Oil Mining Licence (OML) II, Fabeke disclosed that Shell Petroleum Development Company has declared that they would not continue with the appeal.

“It is only those that came close to me knew what I passed through with Shell. The judgement was scheduled four times and yet the government didn’t show concern. And I went to the government and said ‘if you allowed Shell to take back this licence, Ogoni will separate from Nigeria, and from that day, they changed direction and became serious on that matter,” he said.

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