David Amusa, Port Harcourt
A beneficiary of the Federal Government’s Niger Delta Amnesty programme, Onengiye Erekosima, has cried out over his neglect by the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty.
Speaking to Global Patriot Newspapers in an interview in Port Harcourt, Erekosima recalled his contributions to amnesty and restoration of peace in the Niger Delta.
According to him, the proposal for amnesty originated from him which he sold to late President Yar’Adua through the help of the Civil Defense Corp.
He said the climax of the whole saga was his ability to reconcile the then war lords who were fighting each other, making peace impossible and the eventual commencement of the amnesty programme.
Erekosima recalled that he reconciled Ateke Tom with late Soboma George, Farah, Boyloaf and brought all the militants together to surrender their arms and accept amnesty.
He said it was in recognition of his role that former Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty, Kingsley Kuku approved that his children should be given scholarships and that he be engaged as an integration officer in the Integration unit of the Amnesty office.
He said that earlier, before Kuku’s appointment in 2012, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in appreciation of his role submitted his name to be a beneficiary of the amnesty and he was trained at Obubra with registration number B12/51/16537 and on successful completion of the demobilization programme was listed as one of the beneficiaries in 2011.
Erekosima stated that while in the Amnesty office, there were some people who never liked his guts to speak the truth and therefore made effort to frustrate him.
He further said while others were being paid their N65,000 monthly stipend, he has not been paid up till today, despite his protest and petitions.
He also said that to worsen matters, his children, Dennis Tamunobelem and Vivian-George Erekosima, who were given scholarships to study for a GCSE programme at Bellerbys College, United Kingdom in September 2013, were also frustrated as their fees and sustenance allowances were not paid.
Erekosima said because of that the children were reduced to destitutes in the U.K, despite his complaints.
This, he said, prompted him to relocate them to Ghana.
Furthermore, he said upon relocation to Radford University College, Ghana, he requested that the scholarships should be transferred to Ghana to save money for the federal government as the complaint was that there was no money.
Erekosima said surprisingly the Amnesty office told him that it was wrong for him to relocate the children and on that basis they would not transfer the scholarships not minding the agony the children were facing in U.K without sponsorship.
He lamented that up till now the children are not in school and had been loitering about while his efforts for help were to no avail.
He said he had contacted prominent leaders and elders of the Niger Delta including; Alabo Graham-Douglas, High Chief Ateke Tom, Alatubo Charles Harry, the National President of Ijaw National Congress(INC), Udengs Eradiri, IYC President, Chief Sarah Igbe etc, to intervene on his matter to the present Special Adviser, Brig-Gen Paul Boro.
Erekosima pointed out that even the Amnesty Office where he worked did not disengage him officially.
He said what happened was that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the Amnesty Office barred him from coming to work and that since then he had not been paid his salaries or any entitlement.
“The Chief Security Officer of the Amnesty Office barred me from seeing the Special Adviser and coming near the premises of the Amnsety Office since October 2015.
Erekosima believed that there was a plan to frustrate him.
He said the only reason why they do not pay attention to him was because he does not carry arms and that if he had had a cache of arms and ammunitions they would have addressed his problem.
He noted that that would be sending a wrong message to teeming youths in the Niger Delta that the only way the government can listen to you is to bear arms.
Erekosima appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari and other well meaning Nigerians to intervene on his matter before the Amnesty Office frustrates him to death.
He said most of the young persons had been telling him that they would not allow him to be frustrated because they know the role he played.
He said he had been calming such youths down and advising them not to go back to the creeks.
