Ex-militants shut down Niger bridge

By Yomi Odunuga, Abuja Bureau Chief 

The Amnesty Office yesterday disowned the protesting youths. It said it will not absorb them in the programme.

Describing the activities of the youths as a criminal breach, which ought to be handled by the security agents, the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, said his office would not be blackmailed into absorbing the protesting youths into the programme.

Kuku, who spoke to reporters, said those involved in the protest could not lay claim to any of the former militant camps in the region.

He said: “I completely deplore and repudiate the method being adopted by these persons seeking inclusion in the Amnesty Programme, claiming to be ex-militants. Their style is offensive and could easily be regarded as blackmail. Their actions clearly breach national security and thus must be condemned by all right-thinking Nigerians.”

He said the responsibility of his office will not go beyond taking care of the 26,358 ex-agitators “who stepped out to accept the offer of amnesty as at when due and got enrolled in the Amnesty Programme”.

Ruling out the possibility of a presidential directive demanding the absorption of the youths, Kuku called on state and local governments in the Niger Delta and elsewhere to, as matter of urgency, address the challenges posed not by youth unemployment.

SOURCE: The Nation, 9 December 2011. http://www.thenationonlineng.net