Terminate PAP, face worse crisis, ex-militant group warns Buhari

An ex-militant group in the Niger Delta has warned President Muhammadu Buhari against termination of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) to avoid a major crisis in the region that may not be contained.

The warning followed the purported plan to scrap the programme, which reportedly leaked from a committee set up by the Federal Government on PAP.

The 21st Century Youths of the Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience (21st CYNDAC), in a statement at the weekend, urged the government to take honest and holistic approach to the myriad problems that might lead the youths to once again take up arms against the government.

Coordinator of the group, Izon Ebi, described terminating the programme without the government fulfilling its own part as very risky.

He stated: “We received with shock and disbelief the leaked intelligence by the committee set up by the Federal Government on PAP recommending the end of the programme in 2020.

“This is so unfortunate and unbelievable, taking into cognisance the effort put in by patriotic and honest leaders like the late President Umaru Yar’Adua to persuade the Niger Deltans to drop their arms for an honest and holistic approach to the problems that led the youths to take up arms.

“We view it as a decoy to plunge the Niger Delta into another round of crisis, since the merchants of violence are no longer profiting in their venture.”

According to the group, the seeming peace in the region is that of the graveyard. “It will be counter-productive if all efforts over the years are allowed to waste,” it added.