Special adviser to the president on Niger Delta Matters, Hon. Kingsley Kuku has said? that the Presidential Amnesty office? has neither the powers, nor the? competencies or wherewithal to stop any person who willfully decides to commit crime in the Niger Delta.
The Amnesty Office, Kuku said, neither has guns nor ammunition and thus cannot physically combat willful crime or criminality in the Niger Delta.
The declaration of the presidential adviser comes on the heels of the growing penchant by? some persons to pick on the Presidential Amnesty Programme over occasional security breaches in the Niger Delta.
According to Kuku, “ The very critical role of enforcing extant laws that deal with crime in the Niger Delta and other parts of the country is constitutionally vested on the Nigeria Police, the State Security Services and of course, the Armed Forces as currently represented in the states in the Niger Delta by the Joint Military Task Force.
“Amnesty Office is not a security agency and that the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty Programme does not include curbing crime or enforcing laws in the Niger Delta.
“Yes, it is true that the Presidential Amnesty Programme has aided the stabilisation of security conditions in the Niger Delta by successfully overseeing the disarmament, demobilisation and currently reintegrating the entire 26,358 Niger Delta ex-agitators who accepted the offer of amnesty and enlisted in the Amnesty Programme in two phases”.