‘House probe into Amnesty programme is welcome’

The Nation

9 February 2012

‘House probe into Amnesty programme is welcome’

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Kingsley Kuku, yesterday in Abuja said he welcomed the plan by the House of Representatives to probe the programme. He said the Amnesty Office has nothing to hide.

According to him, the mandate of the office does not include security duties in the Niger Delta or anywhere else in the country.

Kuku was reacting to Wednesday’s resolution of the House of Representatives to investigate the Presidential Amnesty Programme following the recent attacks on Agip facilities by a group claiming to be the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND).

Addressing reporters, the special adviser noted that the Amnesty Office has been discharging its assigned duties to the best of its abilities.

He said though most of the former militants had embraced the Amnesty programmes, it does not preclude the fact that some other aggrieved persons would not foment trouble.

Restating his preparedness to hold talks with any aggrieved youth from the Niger Delta, Kuku urged those causing trouble to embrace non-violent and peaceful means of expressing their grievances.