Former leaders of militant camps under the aegis of the Leadership Forum for Peace in the Niger Delta have warned youths in the region against further involvement in the kidnap of persons or other forms of social vices.
President of the forum, General Reuben Wilson, said in an interview in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Thursday that although he and other former militant leaders took the pains to locate the six foreigners who were kidnapped in Bayelsa State last week and secured their freedom at no cost, the incident did not paint the region in good light.
This is coming just as the former freedom fighters have hailed the election of the Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors’ Forum.
Wilson, however, wants Akpabio to hasten the process of exposing and dealing with those identified as traitors within their fold.
Wilson said since the Federal Government had shown the readiness to develop the Niger Delta and was implementing the amnesty programme successfully, there was no justification for the kidnap of innocent people who were in the country to work towards its development.
Three of those abducted were from Ukraine, two from India and one from Russia.
Wilson said after successfully securing their release from a riverine community in Bayelsa State, they were handed over to their employers by the former freedom fighters.
He said: “We took the pains to go into the creeks that we left some years back to look for and rescue all the abducted foreign workers because for us, it was shameful and degrading that some disgruntled elements are still thinking of kidnapping people in times like this when the amnesty programme has been on course.
“Our message to those elements is that they must stop the rubbish.
“There is nothing to gain in engaging in this kind of venture. T
“The government of President Goodluck Jonathan at the Federal Government level and that of Seriake Dickson in Bayelsa State are doing so much to address the empowerment challenges of our youths.
“Rather than engage in activities that will drive the name of the Niger Delta in the mud, we should all join hands in supporting the development initiatives of the government.
“Kidnapping does not pay.
“This was what we saw and decided to accept the amnesty and drop our arms.”
Wilson, who said the decision to elect Akpabio as head of the PDPGF was the best thing to happen to the country, also expressed the hope that sanity would return in the way issues of national interest would be handled by the governors.
He said with Akpabio, who “has been an example in how a state should be governed,” his other colleagues will be forced to learn from him and duplicate same in their states.
He said the people who have been a setback to the party and to the country in the forum should be identified and dealt with accordingly.
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