The fear that the amnesty programme of the Federal Government would end with the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and therefore lack sustainability has been described as the greatest threat to it which necessitates a law backing it up.
To this end the Watchdog of Niger Delta, a non-violent group of reformed militants has called on lawmakers from the region at the National Assembly to fashion a bill that will legalise the reform process for the militants and guarantee sustained peace in the region.
According to the Secretary of the group, Commander Sam Ebiye, the fear of the failure of the programme was being given credence with the failure of the kick off of other stages of the reform programme long after they were supposed to have been in place.
Apart from the issue of lack of strict implementation of the stages of the amnesty programme as promised, the militants fear that a withdrawal of the amnesty offer in the event of regime change will expose the over 20,000 boys from the region to danger of extermination.
“However, there are growing concern amongst our people as to the continued survival of the programme and its life span. For instance, won’t the programme be affected by regime change given the fact that the major ingredient for continuity (the law) is lacking? Thinking for a majority of our people, it is believed that such a programme would only survive the tenure of its inventor. The above reason is a source of continued tension amongst the ranks of militia leaders and a reason to distrust the system.
Even if it is argued that another regime at the national level will still maintain the amnesty programme, we cannot be certain that the provisional status attached to the programme would be maintained, and thus, a threat to the provisional by regime change would imply an indirect withdrawal of the amnesty programme, which will further lead to continued insurrection in our region,î they said.
Ebiye said that the best cooperation the federal government could give to ensure a total success was legalising the process so that the good intentions of the President would be achieved without hindrances.ìWe are hereby calling on our law makers at the national level (senators and house of reps members) especially those from the Niger Delta region to meet collectively with the militants on the amnesty program to fashion a bill in respect of the above issue for passage in the house of reps and senate. This would serve as a guarantee to the future of the militants in the amnesty program, our region and also offer a palliative peace in our country,î he said.