By Daniel Gumm

WARRI—A House of Representatives member, Mr Daniel Reyenieju, has expressed disappointment  over what he described as selective and biased method currently adopted in the administration of the Office of the Federal Government’s amnesty programme for former agitators in the Niger Delta region.

Speaking to hundreds of former Niger Delta agitators of Itsekiri extraction, who called on him during the Easter holiday to protest what they alleged as the deliberate policy of the current leadership of the office to deprive them of the benefits of the programme, he noted that since the present leadership of the programme came on board, his office had been inundated with complaints and protests, specifically from beneficiaries of Itsekiri extraction, all alleging that they had   been deliberately alienated from skills acquisition aspect of the programme,  including those billed for university education and entrepreneurial aspect of the programme.

Reyenieju, who represents  Warri Federal constituency, said: “The process that necessitated the inclusion of former agitators from the Itsekiri ethnic group was a long and tortuous one and their inclusion was made possible through the intervention of the National Assembly and as such no single individual or group can deprive them of any of the benefits accruing from the programme, irrespective of the status of such government official or group.”

He said that since the inclusion of the 500 former agitators of Itsekiri extraction, all subtle sinister strategies have consistently been put in place by a tiny cabal aimed at alienating these beneficiaries from participating in the programme, noting that “sadly the present handlers of the amnesty programme appear to be irredeemably determined to ensure that beneficiaries of Itsekiri extraction do not maximally reap the benefits of the programme.”