As French Prime Minister, Francois Fillon prepares to visit Port Harcourt, Rivers State today, President Umaru Yar’Adua yesterday said the federal government’s offer of amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta “who accept to lay down their arms” is still open.
At the Warri battlefronts, all was quiet yesterday with no reports of further clashes between the men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) and militant gangs in the area.
The JTF used the lull in fighting to consolidate its position along the waterways especially out of the Warri metropolis and other areas, including the Ijaw and Itsekiri communities.
Also yesterday, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State reiterated that neither the state nor the nation was at war with militants in Delta State.
The president who was speaking while receiving the visiting French Prime Minister in Abuja added that the Federal Ministry of Interior was overseeing the implementation of the amnesty plan.
Yar’Adua also stressed that his administration is still committed to the implementation of the 25-year strategic master plan for the Niger Delta and that peace and stability were necessary pre-conditions for development in the region.
He said the federal government would therefore continue do everything possible to restore peace and security in the Niger Delta to make it safe for development and investment.
Yar’Adua said government would continue to channel resources to the Niger Delta Ministry and the Niger Delta Develo-pment Commission (NNDC) for the overall development of the region.
The French Prime Minister who described Nigeria as “a strategic partner with considerable development potentials,” said France was the second largest foreign investor in the country after the United States.
In an earlier meeting during bilateral talks, both countries signed six agreements, including an Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
Meanwhile, all was quiet at the Warri battlefront yesterday, as there were no reports of further clashes between the men of the JTF and militants along the creeks.
The JTF closed all routes leading to Escravos, including the Benin River route to Sapele and Koko Ports, which have been the main escape routes for fleeing militants.
Also, the JTF set up a blockade at Lagos and Forcados junctions, which are the routes for escaping militants to enter into Bayelsa State through Agge and Ekeremor.
Sources said: “JTF’s actions have been very effective. The JTF is closing in on Government Ekpemupolo, aka as Tompolo” who was declared wanted by the federal government on Thursday and suspected trapped in Burutu, Delta State.
Meanwhile, the JTF has denied claims by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that the group ambushed and killed eleven JTF soldiers at Oporoza on Thursday.
The JTF described MEND’s claim as “ridiculous and without any iota of truth.”
JTF’s spokesman, Col. Rabe Abubakar urged Nigerians not to take such utterances seriously “because they are irresponsible.”
Abubakar continued: “There has been neither ambush nor fighting between our troops and the branded criminals, therefore, there is no way that soldiers would have been killed.”
The French Prime Minister will arrive Port Harcourt today from Abuja on an official visit before leaving for the Apo offshore field operated by TotalfinaElf, the French oil multinational.
He will thereafter, with Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, head for the Onne Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone where he will inspect other French investments in Rivers State.
A statement by the Acting Chief Press Secretary to Governor Rotimi Amaechi, David Iyofor who conducted a pre-inspection of the places the French leader will visit said the state was ready to host him.
The statement said: “The visit of the Prime Minister is an opportunity for the state to showcase the fact that Rivers State is safe for business to thrive.
“It is an indication that foreign investors are heeding the call to avail themselves of the safe, investment potentials in the state.”
Already, an advance team of officials from the French embassy led by the Consul General, Jean-Luc Bodin, is in the state and held meetings with the committee handling the visit.
Meanwhile, Uduaghan who spoke in Abuja during an interactive meeting organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for heads of diplomatic missions assured the diplomats that there is “no war in Delta State as the current crisis is limited to just one local government area out of the state’s existing twenty five.”
The governor said partnering with host communities as well the establishment of the Delta State Oil producing Areas Development Commi-ssion and provision of logistic support to security agencies were some of the strategies adopted by the state government in pursing its peace and security agenda.
He called for the assistance of the international community in checking the inflow of small arms into the Niger Delta, stating that the details of the amnesty granted militants by President Yar’Adua would soon be released, adding that militants who refuse the gesture will be dealt with accordingly.
The governor also announced that he had appointed a committee comprising stakeholders of the state to set up refugee camps as a result of the humanitarian problem and displaced persons arising from the military action in Gbaramatu in Warri South-west Local Government Area.
In a statement, the Delta State Commissioner for Information, Oma Djebah said one of the concerns of the “Emmanuel Uduaghan administration for now is to provide humanitarian services and medical services to displaced persons affected by the crises in the Gbaramatu area of the creeks”.
Djebah said it was this that informed the decision of the governor to quickly constitute a committee to rehabilitate displaced persons.
“The composition of the committee is representative and cuts across all the various sectors and stratums including youth groups, government officials, the police and military.”
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