News

FG Moves To End Amnesty Programme, Group Kicks

Published

3 years ago

October 2, 2022

The Federal Government has concluded plans to terminate the Presidential Amnesty Programme in May 2023.

It was gathered that the office of the National Security Adviser had directed the Interim Administrator of the Amnesty Programme, Major General Barry Ndiomu (retd.), to commence the process of winding down the programme.

Ndiomu, who was appointed about two weeks ago, replaced the former PAP head, Milland Dikio, although no reason was given for his unceremonious removal which was announced in a statement by a presidential media aide, Femi Adesina.

The Presidential Amnesty Programme was established by President Musa Yar’Adua’s administration in 2009 as part of the government’s measures to reduce militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

It was reported that 30,000 former militants had been enrolled into the programme with over 65 per cent of participants said to have been successfully reintegrated.

Despite reportedly gulping over N5 billion monthly, international development consulting firm, Nextier Security, Peace and Development said the PAP had failed to address the various challenges that necessitated its establishment.

The firm, in a report released in 2020, explained that the programme was taking a heavy toll on the revenue of the Federal Government, while rewarding militancy and aggressiveness in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

However, multiple sources said Ndiomu had been directed to shut down the programme within eight months.

He was said to have disclosed this to the PAP members of staff during a meeting last week.

A source said, “The interim administrator informed the (member of) staff during a meeting that the ONSA has directed him to wind down the amnesty programme within eight months. In essence, Ndiomu was appointed as the undertaker of the amnesty programme. The workers were shocked and sad to hear the news.

“But there is no justification for the decision because a similar programme to rehabilitate displaced persons in the North has not been shut down. So, why should they shut down the amnesty programme which is empowering many Niger Deltans? This is unacceptable and may spark another round of unrest in the region.’’

Another source observed that the scrapping of the amnesty programme was not acceptable to the Niger Delta region, saying the fact that the government awarded a N4.5 billion pipeline protection contract to a former militant leader, Government Ekpemopolo aka Tompolo, was not a tenable reason to end the programme.

But reacting to the development, the President of the Ijaw National Congress, Prof Benjamin Okaba, argued that the government should ‘’re-strategise the programme’’ rather than end it.

The Ijaw leader admitted that the rehabilitation phase of the amnesty programme had not been fully achieved while the training aspect had successfully produced many beneficiaries.

Okaba, however, said whatever failure had been identified should be blamed on those who were in charge of its operations, insisting that the programme itself did not fail.

According to the INC leader, the disarmament of the militants was one part of the programme that had run smoothly, adding that the rehabilitation phase posed the greatest problems.

Okaba stated, “What I’m saying is that the amnesty programme itself did not fail, it is the operators of the programme that failed. The intentions of (former) President Yar’Adua in putting together the programme was to address the fundamental developmental question in the Niger Delta.”

‘’So, if they want to scrap it, what is the alternative to the amnesty programme? Now that there is no alternative to the amnesty programme, I think the best option is to re-strategise.”

When contacted for a reaction on Saturday, the PAP spokesperson, Ms Donu Kogbara, promised to respond on Tuesday but when asked to provide an immediate response, she said, “If you are keen to wrap this up quickly, let me see whether I can talk to the interim administrator later tonight or tomorrow,” in a text message.

The Head, Strategic Communications, ONSA, Zakari Usman, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to his phone on Saturday.

News

FG Threatens To Seize Dana Air Assets

Published

16 minutes ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that the Federal Government may recover and sell the assets of Dana Air to refund passengers and travel agents whose funds remain trapped following the suspension of the airline’s operations.

The Minister disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the Ministry’s fourth quarter stakeholders’ engagement to enhance governance for effective service delivery in aviation with the theme: “leveraging public feedback to drive excellence in aviation services”.

According to him, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will be directed to probe why funds trapped by the airline are yet to be refunded.

He revealed that the Authority suspended the operations of the airline as a matter of choice between safety and disaster.

“For Dana, the problem is that it was a choice between safety and disaster. So we didn’t take the commercial thing as priority. The priority was safety, and we all looked at the damning reports that we had met on the table.

“It was a decision of the NCAA to suspend them, but I pushed them to say, look, these are the reports we are seeing on the table about safety record, about lack of standards that put the lives of Nigerians at risk. If they continue flying, I don’t know whether most of us will be here. Many of us would have been victims of one of those flights. God forbid.”

According to him, “I have asked Najomo to dig deep to find out how those passengers and agents will be refunded. He has to dig deep on that.

“One solution will also be that if that same individual or those entities are trying to come back to aviation under any guise, whether to go and register a new AOC or use any business within the aviation sector, they have to go and settle their debts first.

“We should look at their assets. There are assets that are still available. Let them sell their assets. Let’s cannibalize their revenue and pay people. Let’s find a way to go after their assets and get money to pay Nigerians who are owed.

“NCAA should do that because they can’t get away with it.”

News

UK Man Changes Plea, Admits Driving Into Liverpool FC Parade

Published

25 minutes ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

A British man changed his plea Wednesday and admitted deliberately ploughing his car into crowds at Liverpool Football Club’s Premier League victory parade in May, in a dramatic twist in his court case.

Paul Doyle had initially denied the 31 charges, including for causing grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent, affray and dangerous driving, during the May 26 Liverpool city centre incident, which injured dozens, including infants and children.

On the second day of his trial Doyle, wearing a suit and glasses, sobbed in the dock as he entered his guilty pleas to each count.

He will be sentenced over two days starting on December 15.

Judge Andrew Menary told him to prepare for “a custodial sentence of some length”.

Doyle, from a suburb of Liverpool and reportedly a former Royal Marine, ploughed his Ford Galaxy Titanium into scores of people as they were leaving the May 26 parade celebrating Liverpool’s victory.

He injured 134 people, including infants, other children and adults, according to Merseyside Police.

There were no fatalities, but 50 people required hospital treatment.

The victims had been celebrating the club claiming a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title when the Premier League season ended the previous day.

Its players had paraded the trophy along the city’s waterfront in front of hundreds of thousands of fans.

Some roads in the central area had been closed to normal traffic to allow the parade to pass.

Police swiftly declared that the incident was not terrorism. But the circumstances of the alleged attack have remained largely unclear.

Sarah Hammond, the Crown Prosecution Service’s top regional prosecutor, said Doyle had “finally accepted that he intentionally drove into crowds of innocent people”.

She noted dashcam footage from his vehicle showed he became “increasingly agitated by the crowds” and that “rather than wait for them to pass, he deliberately drove at them, forcing his way through”.

“Driving a vehicle into a crowd is an act of calculated violence,” she added.

“This was not a momentary lapse by Paul Doyle — it was a choice he made that day and it turned celebration into mayhem.”

The criminal charges related to 29 victims, including eight who were children at the time. The youngest was six months old.

Father-of-three Doyle, who has been in custody since his arrest, will remain in prison ahead of his sentencing.

He had originally been charged with seven offences, but 24 new counts were added to the indictment in August.

News

Tinubu Appoints Non-Career Ambassadors For US, UK, France

Published

33 minutes ago

November 26, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has nominated non-career ambassadors for the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

The three nominees are Ayodele Oke, Colonel Lateef Are (retd.), and Amin Dalhatu.

A post by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on X revealed that the postings would be finalised following Senate screening.

According to the statement, Dalhatu previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to South Korea under the Late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Oke, an alumnus of Emory University in Atlanta, is a former Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and previously served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.

Colonel Are was the director general of the State Security Service (SSS) from 1999 to 2007, served as National Security Adviser in 2010, and was an officer in the Directorate of Military Intelligence.

He also graduated with First Class honours in Psychology from the University of Ibadan in 1980.

Tinubu had on Wednesday forwarded the names of three non-career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation.

The letter was read during plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Akpabio has, therefore, directed the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs to review the nominations and report back to the chamber within one week.

There had been calls on the President to appoint ambassadors and high commissioners for foreign missions.

A former Nigerian External Affairs Minister, Bolaji Akinyemi, had argued that, despite internet access to information, diplomacy still required personal ambassadorial contact.

“I believe credible appointments should be made to the vacant ambassadorial posts. We need to fill them,” Akinyemi said during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today in September.

“The absence of ambassadors does not deny us information. But diplomacy runs on ambassadorial contact, the interaction between governments and ambassadors,” he added.

But while dismissing recent criticisms by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) about delays in ambassadorial appointments in June, the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Nigeria’s diplomatic missions remain fully operational and effectively represented by seasoned foreign service officers, including experienced chargés d’affaires.

The ministry, while acknowledging long-standing structural and funding challenges that predate the current administration, said that Nigerian diplomats continued to serve with distinction, often under difficult circumstances.

Tinubu recalled the country’s ambassadors were recalled by President Tinubu in September 2023.