By Cletus Opukeme, Warri
The office of the special adviser to the President and chairman federal amnesty programme Dr. Dennis Otuaro has revealed that following the Okuama killings of soldiers on peace mission and pockets of violence in Niger Delta region, the office may embark on mopping of arms in the Niger region again.
Dr. Otuaro said yesterday in Warri while interfacing with the 1st phase amnesty programme stakeholders.
He said ” No region in the world is developed with frequent violence and killings without peace. The frequent killings is triggered by proliferation of small arms among youths in the Niger Delta community. That youths who acquire illegal weapons held community leaders in ransome. Okuama case is a glaring one.
” The Okuama incidence is a sad case and that my office will look into whether or not, federal government may emabrk on another journey on arms mopping in the region for peace and stability and to protect lives and property.
” When that comes, you( ex-agitators) have to cooperate with my office to point out those who possess small arms. We will reach out to them to voluntarily surrender their weapons to my office to benefit from the programme. I am pretty sure they are quite numbers of small arms in the hands of youths for criminal activities”’ He said