by Peregba Jerry
A group of Urhobo/Isoko ex-militants in the Niger Delta have decried their exclusion from appointment into the inaugurated Committee on Strategic Communications of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
They accused the interim administrator of the PAP, Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (retd.) of “sidelining” them and urged him to appoint one of their own into the 10-member committee.
In a statement by the group’s chairman and vice chairman, General Figbele Joseph and General Adu Solo, the ex-agitators described their exclusion from the committee as an “injustice”, one they intend to resist.
They suggested that having one of their own in the committee will ensure fairness.
Parts of the statement reads: “There is no gainsaying that the Urhobo-Isoko ex-agitators are completely sidelined in the novel committee, hence we will take every necessary move to make sure that this injustice is resisted.
“Col. Dikio, shouldn’t forget we are his subjects, captured in the Presidential Amnesty Programme that are entitled to every entitlement of the programme. Sidelining us is not a good option.
“Taking our humility and peaceful conduct for granted will not help sustain the existing peace in the region. Therefore, we are calling on relevant authorities to help us call on Col. Dikio to quickly appoint an Urhobo/Isoko ex-agitator into the novel committee for us to also have a sense of belonging.
“Over the years we have been deprived and treated like a beggars in the PAP having embraced peace and subsequently captured into the programme. But we have resolved never to accept any form of injustice from anybody for any reason whatsoever.
“Consequently, while we are appealing to him to act fairly as a father and coordinator of the programme, he should do the needful by appointing an Urhobo/Isoko ex-agitator into the Strategic Communication Committee for fairness and justice”.
A novel committee on Strategic Communications was constituted and inaugurated by the PAP administrator in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in May, with a mandate to be a “think tank and change agents” of the PAP.
The committee was established at the backdrop of a workshop on Strategic Communications organised for selected ex-agitators earlier in March.
