The
Niger Delta Salvation Group, on Tuesday, urged President-elect
Muhammadu Buhari, to resist the temptation of scrapping any of the
interventionist programmes including the amnesty scheme initiated by the
late President Umaru Yar’Adua.
The national coordinator of the group,
Victor Tamarapreye, said this in response to the outcome of the March 28
presidential election, which President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples
Democratic Party lost.
Tamarapreye explained that members of the
group, which is a new coalition of ex-agitators, have been watching
events before, during and after the last general elections.
The group said, while its members had
reservations about the transparency of the election which led to
Jonathan’s defeat, they respected his decision to concede defeat, just
as they were willing to support him should he decide to seek legal
redress.
Tamarapreye said, “As for the
‘President-elect,’ we want him and his party, the APC to note that we
are watching carefully their plans and mission for the Niger Delta.
“We want them to recall the recent
history of the region when crises led to disruption of Nigeria’s oil
production capacity and inevitably affected the income accrued to
federal, state and local governments.
“That was because of decade-old marginalisation of the region and her people, who are the chicken that lays the golden eggs.
“In the past few years, some form of
peace and stability has returned to the region largely because of the
interventionist policies of the Yar’Adua-Jonathan Presidencies. The
policies led to such laudable programmes and agencies such as the
Niger-Delta Ministry, the Amnesty Programme and the likes.”
Members of the group said they were proud
of the outgoing President Jonathan for his statesmanship and for
putting the interest of Nigeria above his own.
It, however, said it would be
counter-productive for the incoming administration to marginalise the
Niger Delta region as punishment for voting the Peoples Democratic Party
during the last elections.
Copyright PUNCH.
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