Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
The Niger Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, has issued a ten-day ultimatum to the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Col Milland Dixon Dikio, to concede to their demand or face a regional crisis.
“We also advise all those involved in the said ultimatum to stop immediately, because we will not tolerate any act that jeopardizes the hard-won peace in the Niger Delta region.”
“We urge Mr. President, the program’s Interim Administrator, the DSS, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Police Force, and other agencies to disregard the aforementioned petition and the 10-day deadline to destroy oil company facilities in the Niger Delta region.”
In a statement issued in Warri, Delta state, the NDLF Secretary, Comrade Wayas Ebiaremene, and Commander Morris Preye stated that the amnesty boss lacks the authority to admit new names of ex-militants to the list, emphasizing that only President Muhammadu Buhari has that authority.
“It is a well-known fact that only the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, has the authority to grant new amnesty programs.”
Continuing, the NDLF praised amnesty chief Col Dikio, saying the organization was impressed with his performance thus far.
“It is an unavoidable fact that no human being is perfect; however, since Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd) took over the leadership of the presidential Amnesty program as the Interim Administrator in September 2020, he has introduced some laudable initiatives into the presidential Amnesty program, and we are very confident that he will deliver on the mandate given to him.”
The statement went into great detail about the amnesty program announced by late President Musa Yar’adua in 2009.
“The Amnesty declaration issued by our late president of blessed memory, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua, in June 2009, is one of the most important decisions ever made to address the Niger Delta issues since independence.”
“Further, ex-President Best wishes Jonathan graciously approved the inclusion of 3,642 Niger Delta ex-agitators into the amnesty program in October 2012, ushering in the program’s third phase. The first phase consists of 20,192 ex-agitators, the second phase of 6,166, and the third phase of 3,642 totaling 30,000.”
“The slots were distributed as follows: 100 to the dreaded late General John Togo’s defunct Niger Delta Liberation Force, 500 to the Itsekiri group, under the Itsekiri National Youth Council, 200 to the Lato Marine group in the Bakassi Peninsula, 50 to the General Bounanaowei group, and so on.”
Other groups include 200 and 842 for communities that have been severely impacted and polluted by oil production.”
“It is on record that the Presidential Inter-Agency Task Force on Arm Verification and Documentation, led by Vice Admiral Ola Ibrahim, the then Chief of Defense Staff, carried out the documentation exercise for those who genuinely surrendered arms and ammunition in February 2013 at 3 battalion Nigerian Army, Effurun Barracks Warri, for those from Delta State.” On February 21, 2013, 14,508 mass destruction weapons were displayed in Effurun Barracks. The weapons include Ak 47 riffles, FM riffles, Pump actions, G 3 riffles, and GPMGs, among others. Those who submitted din guns, cutlases, and catapults were ineligible for documentation in the third phase of the Amnesty program.
