The 26,358 ex-militants rehabilitated by the former president, Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua, under the Federal Amnesty Programme, have proved cynics, who thought nothing good could come out of Nazareth, wrong. They have donated relief materials, worth N52.7 million to victims of flood in the Niger Delta region.
The beneficiaries of their magnanimity are victims in Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Delta and Edo states. The ex-militants were said to have contributed the sum of N2,000 from their monthly allowance, while staff in the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme, were said to have forfeited part of their allowances to make up the said amount of money.
Presenting the relief materials meant for Rivers State to the Commissioner for Special Duties, Emeka Nwogu, in his office yesterday, the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme, Chief Kingsley Kuku, said the ex-militants were touched by the plight of the flood victims. The special adviser, who was represented by the Technical Assistant/Head, Reintegration Department, Lawrence Pepple, said the amnesty office had earlier written to Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, to express concern over the ravaging flood.
He described the donation by the ex-militants as special, adding that they were once not written off by members of society. According to him, the ex-militants decided to contribute money to alleviate the sufferings of the victims in the realisation that their relatives were affected. The amnesty office, Abuja, had earlier donated relief materials to the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), through Zilly Agrrey, to distribute to the victims.
The items handed over to the commissioner included 60 bags of garri, 200 bags of rice, bags of beans, palm oil, vegetable oil, pepper, salt, mattresses, among others. Responding, Nwogu commended the ex-militants for their contribution, which he described as surprising. He said the donation of relief materials had shown that the ex-militants were also people who had sympathy and felt pains of others. “I never expected it.
I have seen and believed. I give God the glory. I promise that there will be judicious distribution of the items,” he said. The commissioner urged other people, organisations to borrow a leaf from the ex-militants. He commended the late president Yar’Adua for granting amnesty to the ex-militants, adding that if he had used the brute of force against them, they would not have been alive to make the donation to the flood victims.
“It is not everything that is achieved by the use of force. President Yar’Adua behaved like a real father. If he had used force, the 26,358 ex-militants would have been wiped out,” he said. Nwogu criticised some oil companies in the region that had been exploring oil in the Niger Delta region and amassing wealth but had failed to show concern to the flood victims by donating relief materials to them.
He also used the opportunity to explain some of the challenges being faced in the distribution of relief materials, management of camps and strategies adopted to overcome such challenges. According to the commissioner, one of the challenges facing the government now was the post-flood period which, according to him, included cleaning the environment, providing food and others, to the victims.
He, however, appealed to international organisations and groups, to come to the aid of the state.
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