BY Emma Ujah
Abuja – The Federal Government said yesterday that the Presidential Amnesty Programme proclaimed for Niger Delta militants in 2009 had closed and therefore could no longer accommodate those agitating to be included in it.

Chief Executive Officer of the amnesty programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, who spoke in Abuja, yesterday, restated the position of the Federal Government amidst calls for inclusion by fighters of the John Togo militants in the Niger Delta, as well as others who are urging President Goodluck Jonathan to grant amnesty to the Boko Haram sect.

His words: “By midnight of October 4, 2009, we recorded 20,192 that disarmed and accepted amnesty. From the agitation of others  6,166 were added.  We are talking about 26,358 recipients of amnesty as proclaimed by Mr. President.

“Of course, we all know that certain agitations are going on all over the country, even in the Niger Delta, there are people talking of third phase, fourth phase.  You know these things will not end but the government has taken a position and the position is very clear.

There is nothing like third phase in this amnesty. There is nothing like fourth phase in this amnesty because if we have a third phase and a fourth phase, there will be a sixth phase and a tenth phase and it will never end.  So we will never accept this.  This amnesty programme has ended.

“Let me make this very clear that the current amnesty programme is actually a solution by this country under our beloved late President Umaru Yar’Adua and his then Vice President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who is today the president of this country, working together, proclaimed amnesty to ensure peace in the Niger Delta. It is a special programme.

That programe can never be politicised. It can never be mixed up with any other issue at all.  It is a special programme meant to address a special problem. That has been done.”

Hon. Kuku who earlier addressed a group of 34 Niger Delta youths who were on their way to Israel for specialised training in advanced technical and irrigation agriculture urged all governors and local government chairmen across the country to initiate programmes that would empower and develop their youths rather than pushing the entire responsibility to the Federal Government.