Warri (9News Nigeria) – An ex-militant leader in the Niger Delta struggle, General Godspower Kokeme popularly known as General GKD has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately relieve Col. Dixon Milland Dikio of his appointment as the interim administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP) over what he termed the poor performance of Col. Dikio.
In a letter made available to 9News Nigeria, General Godspower who is one of the ex-militant leaders that signed a peace pact with the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2019 to stop hostility in the Niger Delta lambasted the PAP boss for failing to carry critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta struggle along in the implementation of the Amnesty program.
He accused Col. Dikio of adopting a divide and rule strategy that has impeded growth and development in the Niger Delta thereby creating security challenges that will threaten the peace in the oil-rich region.
General GKD called on the Amnesty boss to sit up by implementing policies that are in line with what was signed between the ex-militants and the federal government or be sacked. He decried the non- empowerment of trainees, non-payment of school fees of students, non-payment of the monthly stipends of many ex- agitators capture in 2019 for the program and the refusal of the scheme to train new students, thus eroding the gains of past PAPs coordinators of the program.
He alleges that Col. Dikio has stopped the payment of many genuine ex-agitators with the flimsy of trying to wide fake names from the payroll but forgetting to take cognise of the fact that many of the ex-agitators used nicknames for the program enrollment in 2019 due to the nature of the amnesty program.
According to a statement to newsmen in Warri and seen by 9News Nigeria South-South correspondent, the ex freedom fighter called on President Buhari to sack Col. Dikio to maintain the prevailing peace in the region if he fails to do what is right.
The Amnesty program was signed for a purpose, and if somebody who was not part of the struggle is appointed to oversee the programs as a coordinator the least he could do is to show gratitude by carrying all critical stakeholders along but unfortunately, that is not happening today. Col. Dikio should realise that nobody can maintain peace in another person’s backyard in the Niger Delta. His actions of sidelining some stakeholders are precipices for the crisis in the region and must be discouraged by all lovers of peace in the Niger Delta.
Hence, I called on him to immediately pay all those he has refused to pay for the past 3 months, pay school fees of students in different institutions of learning home and abroad, give empowerment package to those that have finish training in different skills, and most importantly consult all critical stakeholders for the smooth implementation of the program, General GKD started in the press release.
