INYC TO KUKU: ITSEKIRI YOUTHS DIDN'T RESENT AMNESTY PROGRAMME

By NBF News

WARRI-ITSEKIRI National Youth Council, INYC, yesterday, denied  claims by the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, that former armed Itsekiri youths 'from the beginning showed resentment to the post-amnesty programme.'

INYC, in a statement by Omolubi Newuwumi, National Vice-President and Isaac Dorsu, National Secretary, urged the public not to believe Kuku's 'story' carried by the media,  adding  that the story should be corrected, so that the public might not blame former  armed Itsekiri youths, who had been 'disarmed, demobilised, but denied the opportunity  of rehabilitation because they are Itsekiri.'

It said: 'The truth is, on October 2, 2009, which was the day the cache of arms and ammunition were submitted by INYC to the then Amnesty Committee, National President of the group, Mr. David Tonwe, made two documented statements, clearly stating the willingness of disarmed Itsekiri youths to participate in the post-amnesty programme, while presenting the arms and ammunition to the Amnesty Committee.

'Tonwe had said: It is our conviction that Your Excellency will reciprocate our display of such loyalty and sincerity of purpose to your administration and that Itsekiriland and Itsekiri people will benefit from your post-amnesty packages.

'Secondly, it is our hope that when post-amnesty programme comes up for implementation, particularly those aspects of human capital and infrastructural developments, the Itsekiri nation will not as usual be short-changed and precluded from participating from its benefits because of our peaceful dispositions and as a minority within Nigeria's minority configuration.'