Niger Delta: See major figure Buhari’s sending to solve crisis

 – A retired army general will be sent to the Niger Delta to contain the ongoing crisis

 – Gen. Paul Boroh said he is being sent to offer the region’s militants the carrot and stick approach

 – The former officer is a special adviser to President Buhari and served in Sierra Leone and Liberia

The special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on the Niger Delta Gen. Paul Boroh (retired) has warned the region’s militants that the federal government will not reward criminals with medals under the guise of seeking peace.

His comments come as government sources revealed plans for a negotiator to travel to the creeks of the Niger Delta to hold peace talks with aggrieved individuals and groups to the recent spate of attacks.

Although the federal government is not dangling a fresh amnesty for the militants, Gen. Boroh explained that the aim of any negotiations is persuading the militants to stop further assaults on oil facilities and security agencies to prevent a government crackdown.

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“The whole aim of my relocation to the Niger Delta creeks is to enable me to identify the aggrieved individuals and groups and hold extensive discussions with them on the need to keep the peace since the government is working hard to put things right in the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria,” Gen. Boroh said.

“From available records, the Federal Government has not reneged on its amnesty package to the region and is working hard to improve the infrastructural needs of the Niger Delta, one of them being the Calabar-Lagos Coastal Railway which is already captured in this year’s budget.

“I therefore feel that is wrong for any individual or group to begin to launch attacks on oil installations and military personnel under the guise of fighting the Federal Government. Those who are perpetrating the crime should not that the government will not reward them for that act of destruction.”

To this end, Boroh has asked those involved in the renewed acts of economic sabotage against Nigeria to desist or be ready for the consequences.

Boroh drew the attention of those pressing for a new amnesty for the militants that the federal government had consistently kept faith with the implementation of the amnesty it declared on June 25, 2009.

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 “There is no plan to go back on the Amnesty Programme of the federal government and all men of goodwill in the Niger Delta should do all they can to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s peace and development effort in the region,” he said.

“Let it be made known that no amnesty programme lasts forever and that the one in the Niger Delta cannot be elastic.”

“Any individual or group that engages in criminal destruction of economic facilities in the Niger Delta under the guise of militancy should understand that there are dire consequences for such acts and that the law enforcement agents will not fold their hands and watch them do so.”

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The Presidential adviser said that all those who were captured under the Presidential Amnesty Programme were being paid their wages monthly while those undergoing training were also being catered for and asked those causing trouble to sheath their sword.

Gen. Boroh served the Nigerian government as an adviser on amnesty issues in Sierra Leone and Liberia under the auspices of the UN and other international organisations.

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