Scrap amnesty programme, invitation to militancy --- Ex-Militants

(Nigeria) A coalition of former- militants and agitators in the Niger Delta under the aegis, Niger Delta Salvation Group,  has warned President - elect, General Muhammadu Buhari and his government not to contemplate scrapping the Ministry of Niger Delta and the amnesty programme, threatening that if they were scrapped, they would return to the creeks and engage in crises of the past that led to disruption of Nigeria’s oil production capacity.

In a statement on Tuesday by the group's National Coordinator, Victor Tamarapreye  in Abuja, the group rejected the result of the March 28 Presidential election, describing same as sham, just as it called on President Goodluck Jonathan to challenge the result in court.

"But for the ‘President-elect,’ we want him and his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC to note that we are watching carefully their plans and mission for the Niger-Delta. We want them to recall the recent history of the region when crises led to disruption of Nigeria’s oil production capacity and inevitably affected the income accrued to federal, state and local governments.  That was because of decade-old marginalisation of the region and her people, who are the chicken that lays the golden eggs.

"In the past few years, some form of peace and stability has returned to the region largely because of the interventionist policies of the Yar-Adua-Jonathan Presidencies. The policies led to such laudable programmes and agencies such as the Niger-Delta Ministry, the Amnesty Programme, among others.  While our people think these governments could have done more, they were nonetheless not unhappy with these programmes and accept them as the irreducible minimum conditions for peace in the region. Therefore any attempt to scrap these programmes and agencies and marginalise the people of the region because they voted for the PDP would certainly lead us back to those days when Nigeria could barely pay salaries because of poor production output.

 "We are not issuing threats, only a warning: That if you create the conditions for trouble in the Niger delta through marginalization in the scheme of things, then be prepared to reap what you sow. He who sows the wind should be prepared to reap the whirlwind. A word is enough.

"We are members of the Niger Delta Salvation Group, a new grand coalition of ex-militants and agitators from all the Niger Delta States.  We have watched keenly the recent developments in the country- that is the general elections, especially the Presidential election, and the hurried concession by our brother, President Jonathan. We are compelled by these developments to issue this official statement -our first on the matter- which represents our views and stand on the elections and the issues arising there-from.

 "We note, unlike the position of some skewed international observers and the media community, that  the general elections were not free and fair, and do not meet with best international standards for electoral conduct.  For instance, the card readers adopted by the Attahiru Jega-led Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were systemically used to disenfranchise many people of Southern origins who likely would have voted for President Jonathan. Even the distribution of the Permanent Voters Card was done in such a way to favour the North, the natural support base of Buharu.

"In the North, even in troubled and war-torn areas such as Borno and Yobe, the rate of Permanent voters card, PVC distribution was almost 100 per cent. This is in spite of the fact that a lot of the people there were displaced and were in camps far away from the area where they registered. While in places like Delta, Ebonyi and Cross River, areas where there is peace and stability and which has not witnessed any recent large movement of people, the PVC distribution rate was poor and it took an extension forced on INEC for the rate to improve slightly.

 "We believe the Jega led INEC does not deserve commendations for its conduct of the elections. In fact, it deserves the scorn of any rationale human being for its systematic rigging of the Presidential election. A rigging plan that was perfectly executed by Prof Jega. On the election day for the office of the President, this manifested in the way Southerners were disenfranchised through faulty card readers. Even the President himself could not initially register and vote because of faulty card readers. It took the intervention of INEC in Abuja for him to register manually and vote.

"Millions of Niger Deltans and southerners who were not as well connected as the President were not allowed to vote because of the faulty card readers. When the card readers rejected their fingerprints, many went home and did not participate in the electoral process anymore. But in the North, registered voters were allowed to vote manually. There was not even pretence of using the card readers as people voted manually and continued voting even after the officially allowed time. In Bauchi, for example, manual voting continued till around 3a.m., the following day.

 "These fraudulent election results were not rejected by INEC, even though they were clearly against its rules. Rather, the presidential election was celebrated as free and fair, and the best ever, because it led to the prepared answer of the defeat of the incumbent.

 "We therefore, reject the result of the Presidential election, and call on the incumbent President Jonathan to exercise his right to challenge the result in court. We believe he has a good case based on the reasons proffered above, and that the court would reach the same conclusion as we did, that the Presidential election was a charade which failed to meet the minimum standard for electoral conduct.

 "We will however, respect the decision of President Jonathan, if even after this appeal he chooses not to pursue the matter any further.  As a statesman, we note that President Jonathan has always placed the interest of Nigeria above self and political interests. We would want him to know that he has our complete support whatever decision he chooses to do in this case. If he wants to challenge the charade called Presidential election, like we beg him to do, we shall defend his right to be heard in court and shall provide the funds for legal fees. But like we stated earlier, this decision is for the President to make."