A group, the Niger Delta Peace Advocates (NDPA), has flayed ex-militant leader and self-styled Urhobo Mayor, Eshanakpe Israel (aka Akpodoro), for allegedly making inciting comments capable of affecting the peace in the region.

The NDPA in a statement issued on Thursday said a reasonable and right thinking people should be concerned over the “unguarded verbal missiles from some ex-militants and their so-called leaders who lack any sense of social responsibility.”

The group faulted Akpodoro for playing the ethnic card in a period where Nigerians needed to be more united to overcome the current challenges threatening the country’s nationhood.

It said: “It is most unfortunate that the self-styled Mayor of Urhobo and others like him are fanning the embers of disunity and ethnicity to further divide the people of the Niger Delta who need to close ranks to make their voices heard in this era of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

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“Accusing the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme of favouring one ethnic group over others is not only an absurdity but a mindset that must be condemned in strong terms.

“The Interim Administrator has been a distinguished officer of the Nigerian armed forces who retired as a Major General in the Nigerian army and apparently lived all his adult life in ensuring that Nigeria remains indivisible and a united country.”

The group stated that it has keenly observed that since assumption, the Interim Administrator has been pragmatic in managing the amnesty programme by blocking areas of leakages and redirecting scarce resources to schemes to impact directly on those genuine beneficiaries who have been neglected in the past.

The NDPA said: “Akpodoro and others are either ill-informed or were being mischievous as everyone knows all those captured under the Programme are structured into phases and these groups of self-styled ethnic leaders are greedy noise-makers seeking relevance.

“Threatening to attack critical national assets is criminal, a threat to national security and should be treated as a treasonable felony. The security agencies should not hesitate in arresting and prosecuting them to serve as a deterrent to others.

“The culture of entitlement among some ex-militants must not only stop but must be discouraged because this has seriously promoted laziness and crime among youths across the region.”

The Star