Pointing out that the amnesty programme for repentant militants was treated as a security programme under former President Jonathan which accounts for “why our level of success was high,” he called on President Muhammadu Buhari to treat the programme in same light to ensure and sustain the security and stability of the region as it was under his predecessor.
Kuku made these assertions yesterday while sounding the alarm that there was a plot to frame him up for terrorism.
Stressing that he had it on good authority that “hawks in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari” are conspiring with security agencies to arrest him at the airport whenever he returns to the country, the former presidential aide said he decided to cry out after a group identified as National Security Watchdog, claimed that there was incontrovertible evidence linking him to “terrorist acts and illegal stockpiling of arms.”
Kuku, who warned that the group’s claim must not be taken lightly by both the government and well-meaning Nigerians, maintained that the group also called on the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, to initiate proceedings for his extradition.
On this account, he clarified that he is not on the run since his location is known to the Economic and Financial crimes Commission, EFCC, which has invited him for questioning.
According to him, “It is on record that during my tenure as presidential adviser on Niger Delta and chairman of the presidential amnesty programme, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the Niger Delta were reduced to the barest minimum. Working with the state governments in the region, stakeholders, prominent ex-agitation leaders as well as security and intelligence agencies of government, we were able to contain the ugly spectre of criminality, kidnapping and related crimes in the Niger Delta.
“It is rather unfortunate that just six months after the Goodluck Jonathan administration left office, insecurity in the region has risen sharply. I have been out of the country undergoing a medical procedure and will definitely return home,” he said.
He went on to state that “The amnesty programme was a security programme and it was so treated under President Jonathan. That was why our level of success was high. I sincerely urge President Buhari to treat the programme in same light to ensure and sustain the security and stability of the region as it was under former President Jonathan.
“Regardless, I remain undaunted because my achievements and record of service will speak for me. The lives and future of over 5000 Niger Delta youths who we were able to deploy to world-class universities home and abroad as well as the pilots and mariners we trained just to mention a few will also speak for me before the end of the next decade. My hope in God Almighty and the judiciary remains strong.”
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