Human rights group frowns at amnesty for militants

– A human rights human rights advocacy group has advised the Nigerian government to reject all calls for amnesty to Niger Delta militants

 – The group said amnesty is very expensive to maintain and also encourages criminality



Some Niger Delta militants

 A human rights advocacy group, the Advocates of Social Justice for All (ASJA) has advised the Nigerian government to reject all calls for amnesty to Niger Delta militants.

 The group during a press briefing in Abuja said the militants engaged in destruction of oil and gas infrastructures under the guise of agitation should be treated as terrorists The group said amnesty is very expensive to maintain and also encourages criminality.

 The national president of ASJA, Torkuma Venatius said granting amnesty to the militants who have engaged in destruction of national assets in Nigeria is like rewarding criminality.

 He said such move is capable of eroding patriotism among citizens. “First we want to note that such calls for negotiation are a disservice to the decent and well meaning people of the Niger Delta,” Venatius said.

Venatius said those who were engaged in the infrastructure in the region represent and a fraction of the entire population but yet their action is used to label and entire region. 

“Whatever the outcome of their negotiations are will not positively impact the larger population of the area since this so called militants are only interested in lining their own pockets while fulfilling the wishes of the political class they answer to,” he said 

He also called on Nigerians to make inquiries on what happened to the amnesty granted to former militants during president Umaru Yar’adua’s tenure. Venatius said some individuals have reneged on the amnesty deal and have again began attacking the state while their sponsors rushed to saturate the media with calls for negotiations so that they can put the country through another cycle of extortion. 

He said: “It is on this note that we demand that the federal government immediately publish the terms of the amnesty agreement earlier entered to with militants. “The government must then act on the terms of this agreement especially the aspect that forbade a return to criminality as this alone is a basis for putting those that are committing present destruction on trial.”