Ex militant leader and President of Niger Delta Coalition of Ex-Agitators Israel Akpodoro has expressed regret that he supported and campaigned for President Buhari towards the 2015 presidential election. Akpodoro lamented that his support for the president has not paid off, despite the huge sacrifice he paid to campaign for him.
In this recent interview with Naij.com, the ex militant speaks on the challenges he passed through during his campaign for President Buhari in the Niger Delta. He also speaks on the promises Buhari gave him but all the promises seem to be fading into oblivion as Buhari’s cabals and security chiefs are blocking his access to the President.
See excerpts of the interview below:
During the election of 2015, what was the contribution of the ex-militants towards the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari?
Actually, there was no ex-militant leader that could mention Buhari at that time. But I know that 75 percent of the ex-agitators were not with Jonathan but everybody was afraid. They couldn’t say anything. I then decided that our voice must be heard. I now gathered the ex-militants, and endorsed Buhari. Immediately I did that, I started facing problems from people in the region. They withdrew my security. Kingsley Kuku called me, threatened me, different groups of people called me using unknown numbers.
They threatened to kill me for mentioning Buhari in the region. I said no problem, I had no individual problem with anybody but Buhari is my choice and eventually we worked without support from anybody. I spent my personal money for Buhari, mobilized the ex-militants and eventually Buhari emerged President.
Now since Buhari became President of Nigeria, what has he done for the ex-militants?
Actually, Buhari has not done anything for the ex-militants. But I’m still pushing. For now am a bad person in the region for supporting Buhari. The people that I used to support Buhari, the promise I gave them that immediately Buhari becomes president, he will empower them through me has not been fulfilled. Up till now we have not seen anything from Buhari. I have become a bad person to my followers. I have also become a bad person to the region because they are all PDP. They are calling me all sorts of names, I’m a betrayers, I’m a sellout, I have sold my life to Buhari but Buhari has not done anything for me.
I’m still pushing because there is no way Buhari can run this government without carrying the ex-agitators along. The people on ground there, the ex-militants, youths need to be carried along. During Jonathan’s government, we normally meet with him. I appeal to Buhari to do the same thing.
The ex-agitators that worked for Buhari are feeling bad because to them they do not have a sense of belonging. They are thinking that Buhari hates the region. But actually, Buhari does not hate the region, the risk they took to mention Buhari at that time is going unpaid. They worked with security agents to ensure peace reigns in the region. So, we are feeling bad over the development. But that notwithstanding, I’m still appealing to the youths to give peace a chance. The government cannot do anything when you are blowing pipelines. Let them lay down their arms and wait for what Buhari will do.
Now that you have not been empowered by Buhari, how is life as an ex-agitators’ leader?
Life is very difficult. I’m facing a lot of pressure. I don’t even know where to start from. The people around the president are the ones causing this problem. They are not telling the president the truth. For supporting Buhari, I’m facing a lot of challenges. My people are in the opposition in the region. I do not know where to start from. If President Buhari continues like this, I think it’s not going to be good for the nation.
You said that you worked with the military to bring down the avengers, how were you able to do it?
Actually, even before the avengers started, I wrote several letters to the president, notifying him of the plan of the avengers. I gave the letters to the Villa’s cabals. The letters were dated October 6, 2015 and January 6, 2016 but they refused to pass the letters to the president.
When the bombing started January 15, I called the avengers criminals. The people bombing the pipelines today are from one place, just the Gbaramatu Kingdom. But the government is thinking that the whole ex-agitators are supporting these avengers. Like I tell everybody who cares to listen, 75 percent of the ex-agitators are not supporting the avengers.
But one thing I want to say is that Buhari needs to engage the ex-agitators that worked for him. Buhari has pro ex-militants, he needs to engage them to solve the problem in the region, not these people discussing with the federal government, they are politicians, they are looking for their selfish interest. They are not negotiating for the Niger Delta. Look at what they are asking for. I think those things will bring a lot of commotion.
They also said they should release all the criminals. People that are bombing pipelines you want to release them. Which message are you sending to the youths? I totally condemn the elders’ negotiation. If Buhari wants to solve this problem, he should pick the ex-militants and empower them to do this work, not these elders. They can’t do anything. Look at Chief Edwin Clark, during the election, he fought Buhari from A to Z. He said Buhari cannot be. He carried Jonathan up and down. He didn’t tell Jonathan what the people needed. EK Clark controlled Jonathan’s government from A to Z, he didn’t give him 16 points demand. It is now that Buhari has just come to power that he is giving him 16 points demand.
So, I think that will not work. Buhari should use the ex-agitators to solve this problem. Since Buhari came to power, he has not had meeting with the ex-militants. Mr. President has to call these people to a round table and discuss with them. Only one on one discussion will solve this problem, not going around with negotiations. The federal government has spent billions on negotiations but look at how it is today, there is no result from the negotiation, so Buhari should identify the ex-militants, it is only the ex-militants that can solve the problem.
Now, what is the situation surrounding the amnesty programme?
The issue of amnesty is a security programme. We have 30,000 ex-agitators. We have many leaders, we have many soldiers. Now, everybody has control over their own camps. But if care is not taken, anybody can just go and do nonsense. It’s not the way the military are handling their security.
The army, police and all the security agencies have bosses. If you do anything rubbish, the military will bring you to book immediately. But in the militancy, anybody can do anything. It is not easy to control them. Now, everybody knows that the N65,000 stipend is a change. You can’t use it for anything. From there, you pay your children’s school fees, some of the ex-militants have 10 children, some have many wives. From there, you will fuel your car, from there you will feed, so that money is nothing yet the government is owing up to four months unpaid, and they are paying security agencies.
Now, which message are you sending to the region? When Jonathan was in power, even though there is no money, he would look for a way to pay these people because some of them do not know how to speak Pidgin English. They stay in the bush, in the villages, some of them have never come to town once. I want to say that the government is using avengers to punish everybody, it is wrong.
So, I am urging the federal government to pay the outstanding stipends including December. This is Christmas period. Owing the ex-militants is not a good message to the region. Some of them don’t have anything they are doing, they depend on the N65,000 for their livelihood.