By: Bulou Kosin, Warri.

Former Niger Delta Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe says Nigeria under President Musa Yar’Adua suddenly granted amnesty to Niger Delta militants because he stood up in opposition to their continued killing in 2009.

Recall that a military onslaught on militants led to destruction of several Ijaw lives and communities in the Niger Delta especially in Gbaramatu Kingdom axis and declaration of militant leader Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo a wanted person.

Orubebe’s account on origin/key players of amnesty programme, when the Bulou Kosin-led Ijaw Journalists Association Worldwide, IJAW, visited him at Ogbubagbene, Delta State differed from recent social media narratives by Fejiro Oliver that non-Ijaws championed events to emplacing the Presidential Amnesty Programme presently led by Dr Dennis Otuaro.

“We were in an Executive Council Meeting. Everybody was saying these Niger Delta youths (militants), kill them. They are disturbing. I was the lone voice in the meeting. I told President Yar’Adua, Sir, you can’t kill them. Why do you want to kill them? The people are only saying oil is explored/exploited in our place: come and develop the place”, Orubebe recounted.

The Ijaw leader said he told President Yar’Adua that oil exploration/exploitation started in the Niger Delta since 1957, stating: “From then till now, thousands have been killed for their oil. If you go and kill one thousand today, by tomorrow, another two thousand will come up. At that, President Yar’Adua asked: what do we do? I said Sir, lets go to them and talk to them and find out from them what they want”.

According to Orubebe, when President Yar’Adua asked who will go for us, he responded that he will, which made Mr. President set up a 5-man committee of 3 Christians and 2 Muslims.

“I emerged committee chair. When we left exco meeting, I then called our first committee meeting and told everybody to fast for 2 weeks. In the end, we prayed and left for the creeks. We slept in every militant camp. Militancy was hot, at its peak. It’s God that saved us. We got to some places, the boys would come on and shoot around the boat tossed by waves! My Hausa-born Committee Members were frightened to urinating inside the boat. From Delta to Akwa-Ibom, across the region, I assembled all militant leaders to Tompolo’s camp 5 where we held a meeting for 3 days”, Orubebe recalled.

“To the militants, I conveyed President Yar’Adua’s promise to develop the Niger Delta if they guarantee peace, a promise Mr President kept till he died. The militants only demanded Goodluck Jonathan should come see them and that security agents should not come with him or come without arms. We returned to Abuja and in a meeting with service chiefs and the 9 oil states governors, I told President Yar’Adua and Vice President Goodluck of the militants’ message. All the service chiefs shouted “No! The Vice President is not going there”, Orubebe said.

The former Niger Delta Minister said he had to stand up to state: “Mr President and Vice President, Sir, in the history of a country, there comes a time when somebody has to sacrifice himself for the nation. I think this is the time Goodluck Jonathan has to sacrifice for Nigeria. I said Mr Vice President (Goodluck Jonathan), you must go there ooo! If you go there and your brothers kill you, that is the sacrifice you made but I can assure you they will not kill you. Goodluck Jonathan decided there and said ‘I’ll go’. Against all odds, we went to Camp 5 in Gbaramatu Kingdom! Held meetings with all the militant leaders. That was the beginning of the Amnesty Programme you see today”.

Orubebe said it was following that meeting that a special committee was set up. The militants, he said, began coming to Abuja for discussions about amnesty. He stressed that the nature and colour of the amnesty today was not the one planned.

“The amnesty we wanted was defined. Somewhere along the line, the people derailed because people are looking for money. How can you pay people for doing nothing? Today, you go to Warri waterside, you see our boys (roaming). The original design was to train them for some years, set them up as groups or individuals, to be on their own. Can government sustain what is going on? They misfired!”, he lamented.