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The Abia State government says it has received the
approval of the federal government to set up a Special Amnesty
Committee to work out programmes on the rehabilitation of kidnappers.

The committee, headed by the Deputy Governor, Acho
Nwakanma, said it has noted the loopholes that led to the failure of
the first amnesty programme for kidnappers and other criminals, and was
working out modalities to ensure the success of the current programme.

Pardon for kidnappers

The committee said it would work with the DDR
technique which entails Disarming and Demobilizing Repentant kidnappers
and rehabilitating them.

It disclosed that arms collection centres would be
established close to areas where kidnapping was rampant, to encourage
the perpetrators to surrender their arms and embrace the programme,
adding that a camp would be established for the repentant kidnappers
where their demobilization would take place before they would be taken
to rehabilitation camp.

The committee said that as soon as it was through
with fine-tuning the modalities, the governor would make the
proclamation which would also determine the duration of the programme.

Mr Nwakanma said the committee was set up after
Theodore Orji, the state governor, consulted widely and received the
consent of the federal government, and expressed hope that the
programme would be the answer to the security situation in Abia which,
he said, has “weighed down the state and made it to look different from
what it is.” Mr Nwakanma said, “I want to use this opportunity to
appeal to our brothers to drop their arms and embrace the amnesty
programme. Kidnapping is affecting Abia and increasing the unemployment
problem. If they allow people to come and invest in Aba, there will be
employment.”

Second attempt

This is the second committee to be set up for the purpose of giving amnesty to repentant kidnappers and their sponsors in Abia.

The first was in May and was headed by the
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Umeh Kalu. It ran into
controversy when a joint army patrol was said to have shot dead a
repentant kidnapper who was on his way to surrender his arms.

Membership of the committee includes: Azubuko Udah,
the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2, Hafiz Ringim, his
counterpart in Zone 9; Jonathan Johnson, Abia State Commissioner of
Police; Vincent Okah, Commissioner of Police, Forensic Division, Abuja;
Nathaniel Obong, the Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence
Corps; and Transition Committee chairmen from kidnap-prone zones of the
state.