The Bakassi Freedom Fighters (BFF) from Cross River State have issued an ultimatum to the Federal Government, threatening to withdraw from the highly anticipated protest on October 1st unless beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) from their camp, who were genuinely captured during Chief Kingsley Kuku's regime, are reinstated by the current leadership.
In a statement signed by Asuquo Okokon and Otutu Elias Eneyekenemi on Friday, September 27, 2024, the group urged the Administrator of PAP, Chief Dennis Otuaro, to reinstate 260 beneficiaries whose salaries have been withheld since he assumed office. They demanded that Otuaro verify the PAP records to confirm their documentation and reinstate them in the interest of peace and unity in the Niger Delta region.
The BFF also called on Cross River State Governor, Senator Bassey Otu, and the Senate Committee Chairman on NDDC, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong Jr., to intervene in the matter, emphasizing that any attempt to delist them from the programme illegally is unjust and inhuman.
“While calling on the “Sweetest” Governor of Cross River State, His Excellency Senator Prince Bassey Edet Otu, the Senate Committee Chairman on NDDC, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong Jr. (Standard), Cross River State Representative in the Board of NDDC, Rt. Hon. Orok Otu Duke (Otuekong) to intervene in this matter.”
The group clarified that they participated in the PAP's second phase, not the first, and had received monthly allowances until corrupt elements subverted the process. They challenged Jephter William to defend himself against allegations of corrupt practices and called on relevant agencies to investigate.
“It is important to note that we do not seek to be dabbled into the Leadership equation as canvassed by this group of corrupt leaders; reasons are not farfetched! First and foremost, we want to state emphatically that we are members of Bakassi Freedom Fighters Camp who participated in all the processes of the PAP and integrated into the programme under the SECOND PHASE and not FIRST PHASE as misinformed by this group of corrupt leaders. Please refer to list of 264 ex- militants as submitted for documentation by leadership of the camp.
“We went through the documentation process and started receiving our monthly allowances which was later subverted by this same group of corrupt elements in the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
“It is also important to note that the situation had led to so many protests both is Bakassi, Calabar and FCT- Abuja. It is in the event of this happenings that the aggrieved members of BFF were invited for a meeting on the 23rd October 2013 by the former SA to the President of Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, with whom we had far-reaching agreements and it is pertinent to also point out that the Pseudo named Jephter William as projected by this group was never in that meeting neither in any other meetings thereafter.
“This is a verifiable fact. If not for corrupt intention why would this people claim ownership of these slots perhaps monies that are meant to be paid to genuine beneficiaries of PAP directly to individual bank accounts? We are concerned about these irregularities in the programme and challenge Jephter William to come out openly and defend himself.
With ancestral homeland sacrifices and ongoing inhuman treatment, the Bakassi people seek justice and reinstatement to the PAP.
“While calling on NSA, EFCC, ICPC and other relevant agencies to beam its search light into the corrupt practices involving payment of monthly stipends to delegates under Bakassi Freedom Fighters camp in the phase II of the PAP. We are also worried that it is on account of this perceived injustice that the Federal Government of Nigeria spent so much on the PAP, but it is rather unfortunate that these corrupt groups of people are the oppressors of other legitimate beneficiaries of PAP in the Niger Delta Region.”
