The history of amnesty programs in Nigeria, though had given room for relative peace in areas where such had been granted since the 1967 reprieve the General Gowon-led government offered the Isaac Boro revolution that raised a mutiny against the Federal Government of Nigeria for 12 days.
However, one major condemnation of that amnesty and others that came after were the successive governments’ failure to address the basic socio-economic needs of Niger Delta.
One major achievements of the late Yar’Adua administration is the presidential pardon to ex-combatants. The government acknowledges the problems that arose from the inadequacies of previous government in an attempt at meeting their demands and aspirations put in place the needed machinery for such program in the region. Omokhoa (2015:350).
The Federal Government of Nigeria granted an unconditional pardon to all persons who have directly or indirectly participated in the commission of offences associated with militant’s activities in the region; (dlc.dlib.indiana.edu, 2015). The amnesty package proclaimed was expected for a 60 day period from August 6th to October 4th, 2009. Within this period, opportunity was given to ex-militant in the region to surrender their arms and ammunitions in exchange for presidential pardon.
The declaration of the Federal Government amnesty was welcomed by a large section of the society and groups, including several international bodies pledge their supports for the program. Though, the securing of lasting peace in the crisis prone region has not been an easy task. According to Aghedo (2013:3), as part of his efforts, Late President
Musa Yar’Adua offered state pardon to the militants and as noted by Kuku (2012:4) that:
“The offer of amnesty is predicated in the willingness and readiness’s of the militants to give up all illegal arms in their possession completely renounces militancy in all its ramifications unconditionally, and depose to an undertaking to this effect. It is my fervent hope that all militants in Niger Delta will take advantage of this amnesty and come out to join in the quest for the transformation of our dear nation”.
3.2 Brief explanation of the concept ‘Amnesty’
The word ‘amnesty’ is derived from Greek word amnestia which means ‘pardon’, especially for those who have committed political crime. It is a period during which crimes can be admitted or illegal weapons handed in without prosecution.
An amnesty is also considered to be a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offence against it, to the positions of innocent persons. In other words, for an amnesty to be offered to an individual, such a person must have committed an offence punishable by law (Nigerian voice, 2011). Amnesty in international law refers to an act of effacing and forgetting past offences, granted by the government to persons who have been found guilty of offences against the state or criminal acts, usually applies to rebellious acts against the state. Amnesty is usually offered in order to restore tranquility in a state.
A study of amnesty law adopted since the Second World War concludes that, there are an increasing number of amnesties that exclude some, or all crimes under international law. In practice, amnesties have taken several legal forms. The two most common methods of adoption since the Second World War have been through (a) executive degree or proclamation and (b) parliamentary enactment into law (Louise, 2008)
Amnesty has also been accorded pursuant to a peace agreement or other negotiation such as agreement between the incumbent government, opposition groups or rebel forces. According to Louise (2008), amnesty refers to an official act that exempt a convicted criminal or criminals for serving his/her or their sentence(s) in whole or in part, without experiencing the underlying convictions. The term amnesty is also an initiative where individuals are encouraged to turn over illicit items to the authorities on the understanding that they will not be prosecuted for having been in possession of those items.
Reasons for this is to reduce the escalation of crisis, mop up the circulation firearms and work against abuse of human rights especially the girl child and women, who fully bear the brunt of violent conflict atrocities.
Instances where amnesty has been used in the 17th and 18th centuries include: Napoleon’s amnesty of March 13, 1815; the Prussians amnesty of August 10, 1840; the general amnesty proclaimed by the emperor Franz Josef 1 of Austria in 1857; the general amnesty granted by President of the United States, Andrew Johnson after the American civil war (1861-April 9, 1865) in 1868 and the French Amnesty of 1905. Amnesty was also granted in U.S. politics in 1872, which meant restoring the right to vote and hold office to ex-confederates which was achieved by act of congress.
However, in recent times, amnesty has been applied in different circumstances, for political reasons aimed either at ending hostilities or in the control of illegal possessions of firearms. For instance, the Lome’ Peace Agreement of 7 July 1999 between the government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (RUFSL) included a provision pursuant to which the government undertook to grant absolute and free pardon, and reprieve to all combatant and collaborators in respect of anything done by them in pursuant of their objectives. This is to ensure that no official or judicial action is taken against any member of specific forces. Attempt was also made by the Ugandan Parliament to end insurgencies in the north and west of the country when a bill was passed, offering amnesty to northern rebels of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) who have been fighting President Musevenis’s government since its inception in 1986. The rebels were given six months from the date at which the president signed the bill into law to claim amnesty, and hand in their weapons.
In 1995, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa introduced a mechanism that offered a morally compromised for accountability which is amnesty, in exchange for public disclosure of truth. This was spelled out in the National United and Reconciliation Act of 1995 (Backer, 2003). The South African model of accountability through conditional amnesty, required perpetrators to apply for amnesty in relation to each of their offences, provides full disclosure, and prove that it was politically motivated. It is this amnesty process of South Africa that made the transition to democracy possible (Gibson, 2002).
The South African Parliament also passed firearms amnesty that allows authorities to destroy as many illegal weapons as possible. The first initiative was the ‘sweep’ in 2005 which destroyed 33,000 illegal weapons and about 46,000 legal weapons. The exercise was again repeated in 2010 from January – April. The step was aimed at reducing violent crime in the country through a reduction in the number of firearms in circulation.
Nigeria is not left out in the effort at granting amnesty to offenders. At different times in the history of the country, amnesty has been proclaimed. One of such was the granting of amnesty to military officers who participated on the side of secessionist Biafra during the Nigerian civil war 1967-1970 (Duru, 2009).
Again, a special amnesty proclamation was made by the Shehu Shagari led administration in May 1982 for the leader of Biafra secessionist, late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and former head of States, General Yakubu Gowon, who was allegedly implicated in the coup attempt that claimed the life of former military head of States, General Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976. In these cases, the amnesty was aimed at reconciliatory purposes. In recent time, amnesty has also been proposed for the members of the Boko Haram insurgen
ts causing havocs in the northern part of the country.
3.3 The Nigerian Amnesty Program
In what appears like the futility of violent response, Late President Umaru Yar’Adua on 25 June, 2009 publicly announced a 60 days Amnesty offer to be effective from August 4 to October 4, 2009. The Amnesty program for ex-militants was not an event, but a declaration to show the commitment of government towards achieving peace in the Niger Delta Region. Though referred to as Amnesty program, the logic is to ideally integrate the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) process into the overall implementation. Many militants accepted the offer and conditions spelt out by the Federal Government. About 26, 358 militants received the amnesty and were sent out to different countries for training; 933 were sent to South Africa, 172 were sent to Benin Republic, 34 sent to Sri Lanka, 21 sent to Poland, 65 sent to Russia, 56 sent to U.S.A and 22 sent to Israel. However, no European country accepted the repentant militants for training.
Moscow was to offer them training in medical services and Tel Aviv farming experts, while Washington agreed to issue pilots’ license to militants taking flying courses at the Daytona Aviation Academy (Nigerian Voice, 2011) while the others were trained on different skill acquisition within the country. The program, no doubt, has considerably improved peace and security in the Niger Delta, but the implementation of the amnesty program has not transcended beyond the collection of weapons to providing sustainable livelihood alternatives to ex-militants and affected Niger Delta communities.
Before now, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria was noted for its restiveness as different militant groups carried out damaging attacks on oil installations and created a general attitude of hostilities, both to the natives and non-natives, thereby causing violent activities in the region. Indeed, attacks since December, 2005 which included a spate of kidnappings, shut down of oil production, sabotage of oil facilities, illegal bunkering, vandalism of oil pipelines, clashes with Joint Military Task Force (a special unit of Nigerian Armed Forces specially established to check violence) and various attacks on contractors and even innocent people portrayed the region as dead zone. It was actually a worrisome situation.
In spite of all the hostilities recorded in the area, President Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua, in realizing his presidential mandate of bringing lasting peace, progress and meaningful development to the area, proclaimed the unconditional amnesty to all Niger Delta militants in the creeks as well as those facing prosecution in the law courts.
The proclamation of the President followed the ratification of the amnesty terms by the Council of State, while the details of the amnesty package were worked out by the Presidential Panel on Amnesty and Disarmament of militants in the Niger Delta, headed by Major General Godwin Abbe, the then Minister of Defenses. Essentially, the presidential panel recommended that the president’s proclamation should give the militants a period not exceeding 75 days but not less than 60 days within which to renounce militancy and subscribe to the oath of renunciation.
Specifically, the post amnesty program was a testimonial of the readiness of the federal government to attend to the unique ambition of bringing lasting peace and progress to the Niger Delta region by ensuring calmness in the oil rich area.
There were series of meetings with the leaders of the area on how best to accomplish lasting peace. Sixteen major militant leaders led by Chief Government Ekpemepolo (Tompolo) had dialogue with the President on how to achieve peace. Other militant leaders in the peace talk were Ebikabowie Ben (Boyloaf, Bayelsa), Ateke Tom (Rivers), Franklin Duduku (Cross River), Bonny Gawei (Delta), Africa Ukparafa (Bayelsa), Farah Dagogo (Rivers), Sagboma George (Rivers), Erefimudie Olotu (Bayelsa), Ezekiel Akpabowei (Delta), Kenneth Dan Opsingi (Rivers), Bibowei Ajube (Ondo), Henry Egbema (Edo), Omo Tom Tonwerigha (Edo), Solomon Indigbena (Rivers) and Selky Kile Torugwedi (Bayelsa).
The terms of the Amnesty include: the willingness and readiness of militants to surrender their arms; unconditionally renunciation of militancy and signed undertaking to this effect. In return, the government pledged its commitment to institute programs to assist their disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and provision of reintegration assistance to the militants. These are major preconditions put in place to address wider development challenges in the Niger Delta.
In the remarkable conviction and sincerity that peace can reign in the Niger Delta, a steering committee comprising of government and oil companies was set up to identify projects, pool resources and execute laudable program in the area. The chairman of the committee was Dr, Emmanuel Egbogah, the then adviser to the federal government on petroleum, while other members include Mr. Philips Chukwu of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Mr. Mutiu Sumonu of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). A passionate intensity at achieving lasting peace and development was again revealed when the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) made open its plans to begin the implementation of a $3.28million initiative to attain impressive development.
The initiative, according to the Managing Director of NDDC, Mr. Chibuzor Ugwoha was to be executed in partnership with the United Nations Institute of Training and Research (UNTAR), and it was meant to focus on creating a new generation of skilled workers from among the youth population of the region. While the intervention agency would be contributing 30 percent initiative, the NDDC would provide the balance of 70 percent funding. The reasonableness of the post amnesty plans of the Federal Government got more relevance when the Federal Executive Council (FEC) also approved N200 billion for the execution of 44 projects in the nine states that made up the Niger Delta.
The projects involved the construction of bridges, roads, hospitals, the provision of portable water and environmental impact assessment which was jointly executed by the NDDC and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
The breakdown of the projects to be executed indicated that Abia got four projects valued at N9billion, Akwa Ibom, four projects valued at N10.2billion, Bayelsa, six projects at N2.9billion, Cross rivers, three projects atN6.6billion, and Delta, six projects at N50billion.
Other states were Edo with three projects at N7billion, Imo, four projects valued at N56billion, Ondo, three projects at N22.5 billion and Rivers with eleven projects at N35.6billion. Also indicated in the project was an N14.9billion contract for the development of the newly established Federal Polytechnic of Oil and Gas sited in Bayelsa. There is no exaggeration that late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua paved the way for peace and progress in the Niger Delta, a project which the current regime is trying to follow up to its logical conclusion.
3.4 Amnesty Initiatives in the Niger Delta
Following his inauguration in May 2007, President Umaru Yar Adua promised to address the Niger Delta conflicts, and so recognized it in his seven-point agenda. In fulfilment of his promise, the late President Yar Adua in line with the suggestion of the Niger Delta elders (Obi & Rustad, 2011) inaugurated the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta. This 45member Committee was inaugurated on 8th September, 2008 tocollate and review all past reports on Niger Delta, appraise their recommendations and make other proposals that will help the Federal Government to achieve sustainable development, peace, human and environmental security in the Niger Delta Region. The Committee under the Chairmanship of Ledum Mitee, Movement for the survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) President had submitted its report (Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, 2008) to
the Federal Government since 1st of December2008 (Mitee, 2009). The Committees recommendations include appointing a mediator to facilitate discussions between government and militants; granting of amnesty to some militant leaders; launching a disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation campaign, and increase in the percentage of oil revenue to the Delta to 25 per cent from the current13 per cent; establishing regulations that compel oil companies to have insurance bonds; making the enforcement of critical environmental laws a national priority; exposing fraudulent environmental clean-ups of oil spills and prosecuting operators, ending gas flaring by 31st December 2008 as previously ordered by the Federal Government (Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, 2008)
The amnesty office has successfully placed a total of 17,500 out of the 26,358 ex-militants who accepted amnesty and have been enrolled for degree and vocational skills acquisition training program in Nigeria and abroad (Pointer, 2011). The vocational and technical training program include: seaman training, welding, aviation, computer technology, leadership training, marine technology, entrepreneurial skills, information technology, employment/placement opportunities development activities and so on. The recommendations of the Technical Committee on Niger Delta for effective realization of the content of amnesty program according to MOSOP (2008) are to:
a. Establish a credible and authoritative Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) institutions and processes including international negotiators to plan, implement and oversee the DDR program at regional, state and local government levels.
b. Provide for open trial and release on bail with a view for eventual release of Henry Okah and others involved in struggles relating to the region.
c. Grant amnesty to all Niger Delta militants willing and ready to participate in the DDR program.
d. Address short term issues arising from amnesty to militants by promoting security for ex-militants and rebuilding of communities destroyed by military invasions.
e. Work out long term strategies for human capacity development and reintegration of ex-militants.
f. Reflect on a time-line with adequate fund for the DDR program to take place.
g. Stop the illegal demands put on youths from the region by prosecuting the suppliers of small arms and light weapons and also those involved in oil bunkering by identifying highly placed sponsors of violence for economic and political reasons.
h. Exclude from amnesty and criminalize the activities of those militants not committed to the DDR process and unwilling to surrender their arms.
i. Ensure that signatories to the DDR program show clear commitment to the entire process.
The amnesty which was unveiled on 25th June, 2009 was scheduled to run between6th August to 4th October, 2009, that is, a 60 day period; and was predicated on the willingness and readiness of the militants to give up all illegal arms in their possession, completely renounce militancy in all its ramifications unconditionally, and depose to an undertaking to this effect (Federal Government of Nigeria, Niger Delta Amnesty Program). During the declaration, the President acknowledged the fact that the challenges in the Niger Delta arose as a result of the inadequacies of the previous attempts at meeting the yearnings of the people of the region, which thus led to the restiveness witnessed in the Niger Delta. The high incidence of violence in the Delta led to the amnesty initiatives
As a matter of fact, in the first nine months of the year 2008, about 1,000 people lost their lives, 300 were taken hostage and the government lost $23.7 billion to attacks, oil bunkering and sabotage (Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, 2008). Apart from the inability of Nigerian government to meet up with its OPEC quota and other negative economic effects, the oil Multinational corporations (MNCs) on their part reportedly lost billions of dollars to the conflicts. For instance, between 2003 and 2007, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) estimated that it lost US$10.6 billion, with a total loss of not less than US $21.5 billion by the oil MNCs as a whole since 2003 (Nwozor, 2010).It can be seen that a major drive for the use of amnesty in the management of oil-related conflicts in Nigeria is the belief that it is only through peace that sustainable development can be guaranteed in the Niger Delta.