New Telegraph

Amnesty for bandits, equating it with Niger Delta agitation, insulting –Ankio Briggs, Evah, others

●‘No, it’s a universal practice, United Nations declaration’

The recent clamour for a presidential amnesty to herdsmen and bandits has been generating reactions across the country. Recall that late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua-led government also granted amnesty to Niger Delta militants fighting for the emancipation of their people, which helped to douse the tension in that region.

But in a sharp reaction, some Niger Delta activists have kicked against that, arguing that there was no justification for comparing the herdsmen and bandits to the Niger Delta freedom fighters of those days. According to them, herdsmen and bandits are criminals and as such cannot be equated to those who fought to liberate their people from the oppressive tendencies of succeeding Nigerian governments. One of such activists, Joseph Evah, who sharply disagrees with the proposal, however noted that the herdsmen and bandits are already enjoying such privileges in disguise. Evah said: “They are enjoying amnesty already. The Federal Government gave them amnesty during President Goodluck Jonathan’s time.

“They only collected the money and committed more havoc. They have been enjoying amnesty. “May be the Sheik (Ahmad Gumi) is pretending and deceiving the public. Sometimes they display some people that are repentant Boko Haram members. “Those are the people that were given amnesty. These bandits are all Boko Haram. They are just camouflaging in different dimensions to confuse the country. “May be they want us to give the whole budget of Nigeria to them. Maybe that is when they will be satisfied.

“These people have been collecting billions of naira in the name of nomadic education. Nomadic education started during the time of Jubril Aminu as minister of education. “They have been enjoying this so-called amnesty in another form called nomadic education. These people, I don’t know what they want and what they are looking for. “The elites in the North are using the name of nomadic education to send their children abroad for more education. “When people sometimes say that amnesty in the Niger Delta is supposed to have ended, they are insulting us. “What of nomadic education, have they ended it? Every year, there is a budget for nomadic education. “They share the money with the elites.

Nomadic education is part of amnesty for them. Similarly, another activist, Ankio Briggs, said it is rather a sad situation the Niger Delta people found themselves in, calling it a distraction from what is going on in Nigeria. “To actually compare the Niger Delta agitation with businessmen, who have decided to carry arms to kill people, rape and to occupy other people’s land and to behead people and then turn around and say that people are rustling their cattle and that cattle is like oil to them, is insulting. It is arrant nonsense.

“It is not even worth discussing but I don’t blame whoever is suggesting that and I don’t blame people like him that think along the line that he is thinking. “I blame our politicians. I blame our leaders. “I blame our politicians because today we have politicians and representatives who are actually thinking of running for presidency.

“Running for senate and all that without actually knowing what they are supposed to do with those things. “If not the fact that a genuine agitation like that of the Niger Delta, an agitation carried out by MEND in the Niger Delta to be compared to terrorists, criminals, rapists and they are people who are coming in from outside of Nigeria to claim Nigeria nationality and to claim Nigerian identity, is just a failure of government and failure of our representatives from the Niger Delta. “For people like Sheik Gumi to be comparing a genuine agitation of the Niger Delta people while claiming that they want to keep Nigeria safe is a big lie. “What they want to do is actually to divide Nigeria according to their terms and they do what they like; and honestly I’m not opposed to that.

“I don’t think that the Niger Delta people should be opposed to it, rather we should just find the best way out there and then let everybody take charge of their territory and their own development. “If that is not working, we must be able to sit down and agree that currently, we cannot live together and if we cannot live together then we must find a way to live apart,” she said. Also, Abilade Ekerefe, spokesperson for Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC), has said that the two scenarios are not the same. Sheik Gumi, Ekerefe said, cannot say that they should grant amnesty to criminals, who are terrorizing the peace of Nigeria.

He asked: “On what basis are they now giving them amnesty? What are they fighting for? These are criminals except the Federal Government is telling us that they are negotiating with people who are terrorizing innocent citizens of this country. “We are not in support of it and we can never be in support of it. Let president Muhammadu Buhari rejig the security architecture of this country.

“Let the security chiefs bring out a new strategy and master plan of how they can tackle the security challenges in the North-East and flush out those criminals and those bandits.”His Royal Majesty, King Bubaraye Dakolo Agada IV, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, also believes that the two situations are not the same.

He said: “In the case of the Niger Delta militants they are excluded from the oil well. So, they are agitating for a reasonable portion of their oil wealth to be used for their benefit. “For the bandits, it is a different ball game. They are doing something else completely. The amnesty that was granted to Niger Delta youths was with the Niger Delta oil money.

“If you say they should grant bandits or Boko Haram amnesty, which money are they going to use for the amnesty, the same oil money? “So’ you can see how it doesn’t add up. Is it a solution for people who are supposed to be gainfully employed? I don’t see it as a solution. For Charles Ambaowei, “that is the most nonsensical, idiotic, absolutely not a good thinking. How can you compare a peaceful struggle for true federalism of the Niger Delta with that of the bandits? “How can you prefer to give a people whom everything they are doing does not have any ideology rather it’s all intention is to kill and destroy. “And people will wake up and say those people should be given amnesty. When the amnesty is given, is it Niger Delta oil money that will be used to pay them? “What kind of embarrassing proposal is this? It is absurd.”

A non-violence advocate, and founder of Foundation for Peace and Non-Violence in Nigeria, Onengiya Erekosuma, has also faulted the call by some Northern leaders that amnesty be granted to bandits terrorising the North. Erekosuma, who worked closely with the Federal Government, and renowned militant leaders during the amnesty granted to Niger Delta agitators, warned that the violence being perpetrated by the bandits would escalate once the Federal Government toe the path of amnesty. He noted that many others with the intention to commit crime, but lack the capacity to do that will be forced to follow the footsteps of the bandits, since they would feel that crime pays. Erekosuma said: “As a key player during the amnesty programme to Niger Delta militants, I am saying that amnesty will help to create more warlords or bandits as you call them.

“It is very simple. Any other amnesty at this critical time will make an unbelievable number of Nigerians ask for amnesty. This will only destroy Nigeria. “The only programme that will save our beloved country currently is for the Federal Government to accept the fact that it has failed millions of Nigerians.

“The Federal Government has to apologise to Nigerians for letting them down; for allowing violence to escalate and for making life hellish for Nigerians.” However, a political analyst, Dr. Konrad Ekiyor Welson, believes the situation is dicey as he said that it is universal practice all over the world to give amnesty to people who repent from crimes. “It is a United Nations declaration, but the problem we will have is that it started in the Niger Delta. “Giving amnesty to bandits is not a bad idea but it should be properly done in such a way that it will end carnage.

“Look at the Niger Delta, once amnesty was given; it ended militancy in that region. The way these things are done, there are always two sides to them. “It is better to think of how meaningfully they can be engaged. Amnesty is good on one hand; you relieve them of all their crimes but don’t pay them. “Try to rehabilitate them. Give them a skill.

“But, are those bandits ready for that? You cannot negotiate for amnesty for people inside the bush. Let us know them. “When they are given amnesty, they can be monitored. So, it has to be done properly. “The way it is done now it will encourage more people to go into it. It should be looked at holistically beyond trying to solve an immediate problem. “We have weak security architecture in the country; our security system seems to have been compromised. We are all at the mercy of criminals in this country,” he added.

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