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A coalition of ex-agitators and stakeholders in the Niger Delta have applauded the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Prof. Charles Dokubo, for his commitment to peace building in the region.
The ex-agitators, under the aegis of Niger Delta Peace Awareness Movement, said the meeting was called to assess the level of peace in the region since the coming on board of Dokubo.
They expressed satisfaction that the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme had lived up to the expectations of the stakeholders in the Niger Delta.
Addressing journalists after their meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, the leader of the group, Alhaji Awo Harmony, said the meeting was imperative to continuously assess the situation of things in the region.
He said the meeting was also necessary to identify obstacles that constitute threats to peace, stressing that before now, most of the ex-agitators were disgruntled because of the non-payment of their monthly stipends.
“We are happy that today we have an amnesty coordinator whose commitment to resolving the Niger Delta crisis is second to none. Within the short period that he has been in office, he has settled all outstanding allowances owed to ex-agitators,” Harmony said.
Also speaking, the spokesman for the Supreme Egbesu, Kingsley Opukuri, also commended Dokubo for yielding to their call for multi-lateral peace building approach.
He noted that Dokubo had within the past months consulted with different stakeholders in the region, bringing everybody on board the table of peace.
Opukuri said, “Prof. Dokubo is a peace builder. Before his coming on board, the region was charged up and many youths had thought of returning to the creeks because of corruption and lack of transparency that bedevilled the amnesty scheme.
“His leadership has afforded many aggrieved youths the opportunity to express their grievances and proffer solutions to the lingering crisis in the Niger Delta.”
Also, Mr. Solomon Aloba, of the Front for Ijaw Survival and Hope, and ‘General’ Reuben Nanie, of Agba Freedom Fighters, commended Dokubo for using his wealth of experience to contain the problems of pipeline vandalism and oil bunkering in the region.
They urged him to sustain the tempo while calling on the Federal Government to complete the East-West Road to open the region for more investment opportunities.
