Amnesty programme in Rivers state is a failure, says former leader of RSHA

Former Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, has condemned in strong terms the state amnesty programme initiated by the governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike.

Hon. Lloyd, a die-hard supporter of the Minster of Transport and former governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, told journalists in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that any amnesty programme without plans to meaningfully engage the repentant cultists and criminals amounted to exercise in futility.

He then advised the state government to ensure that the repentant cultists and criminals were rehabilitated to bring about the needed peace in the state.

Hon. Lloyd stated: “For example the governor went on something I consider a very good project. Because of the level of insecurity in the state, he set up an amnesty committee with a fine gentleman, Kenneth Chinda who is the chairman of the committee. They are going round mopping up arms.

“I am saying that it shouldn’t end at mopping up arms. Look at what your predecessors had done. Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi came into the state when we had the same situation as we have now. What did he do? He said you can’t collect arms from these boys and live them like that. He must gainfully employ them,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the state government said the amnesty exercise was a huge success. The chairman of the Rivers state amnesty committee, Mr. Kenneth Chinda, said that the programme was a huge success. He said that the programme has brought about peace in Rivers state and called on members of the public to ignore comments made by C Hon. Lloyd on his views that the amnesty was a failure.

“The Rivers state amnesty programme was a huge success because all the atrocities they left on ground, the governor of Rivers state has cleared all those things, working in synergy with security agencies. There is peace in Rivers state and that is why you can see investors doing very well, coming into Rivers state investing and expanding their businesses.

On its part the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers state has accused Hon. Lloyd of embarking on a sponsored campaign of calumny against the Rivers state government.

The Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Mr. Samuel Nwanosike, reacting to Lloyd’s accusation, said it was mere propaganda for Chidi Lloyd to say that the amnesty was a failure.

“APC is a political party that is built on lies and falsehood. You can see Chidi Lloyd before the eyes of all Nigerians coming to lie to all Nigerians. It’s unfortunate that these are the kind of persons that were fortunate to man our resources. No matter the amount of propaganda they carry, the matter is simple and short.
“What has the APC-led administration done for the people of Rivers state for two years? What do they have to show for what money they have gotten as allocation? All the lies they told us during the general elections, which one have they even made efforts to try to accomplish. For us APC is a dead political party in Rivers,” he maintained.