GOV. WIKE INAUGURATES AMNESTY COMMITTEE



Governor Nyesom Wike has inaugurated a committee in charge of the state amnesty program. The committee is to interface with various cult groups in the state to retrieve arms and ammunition. Members of the committee include officers of the Police, the Army, the Navy, Airforce and the DSS. The Special Adviser on Amnesty Ken Chinda is the Chairman of the committee.


At the inauguration, the Governor stated that the aim of the program is not to buy arms and that the arms must be collected publicly and not in secret. Governor Wike said that it was the last opportunity for cultists to embrace the amnesty.
“We are not saying that we are pleading,”said Wike. “We are saying that if you are tired and you don’t want to participate anymore then you come to government and say, ‘we don’t want to be involved in cultism any longer’. And it will not be by mere words. You have to surrender your weapons – guns, knives axes.
“If you don’t come out within a certain period then we will know that you are not interested. I believe that the security agents have the capacity but we just want to give a last opportunity.”
The Governor said that the committee would identify ways that the Government could support the repentant cultists to return to normal life. He stated that the Government would not be paying stipends to the repentant cultists.
Ken Chinda said that arms would be mopped up in thirty days and that any group that doesn’t comply within the thirty day period, would be covered by the amnesty offer.