About 517 Niger Delta students on scholarship at the University of Africa, Toru-Orua, Sagbama, Bayelsa State, have appealed to the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Prof. Charles Dokubo, to come to their aid.

It was gathered that the students, who were enrolled in the university under the PAP’s scholarship scheme during the administration of the former Coordinator, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, were abandoned by his successor.

The Spokesperson for the students, Justice Ebiks, who is a 100 level student of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, told the Nation that they were all stranded at the university because the new leadership of PAP failed to take responsibility for their scholarship.

Ebiks, however, expressed optimism that if Dokubo, whom he described as a lover of education, would grant them audience, he would intervene in their plight and get them back to school.

He complained that security officials and other personnel in the Amnesty Office blocked all the efforts of the students to interact with the coordinator.

Ebiks explained that senior officials in the amnesty office only told them that they were illegally included in the scholarship scheme and improperly documented during the tenure of Boroh.

He said: “We have been abandoned despite the fact we have cultivated the zeal to be in school. We are all stranded and most of us are going through difficult times. We were all sent to the school in Bayelsa by the amnesty office but now people there are telling us that we were not properly documented.

“We have been making series of efforts to see the new coordinator to no avail. Some persons in the office don’t want us to see him because they believe that Dokubo being a lover and product of education knows the value of education in the Niger Delta and will graciously rectify whatever problems we have and get us back to school.

“We once sent a delegation to Abuja to see him. We contributed money and sent the delegation but on getting to Abuja they were left stranded. Security operatives and other officials in the amnesty office did not allow us to see him.

“The delegation proceeded to see our elder statesman Chief Edwin E.K Clark at his Abuja residence. As soon as he got to know about the situation he felt the plight and pain of the youths and quickly criticized the act of wickedness carried out by the office. He emphasized that Niger Delta is not as we expect it to be, because people now politicize the life and affairs of the youths in the region.

“When we got back to Bayelsa, we reported our plight to the state government through the commissioner for education. But after waiting in vain, we decided to make further efforts to see Professor Dokubo. During the election, we sent a four-man delegation to Abuja to see him but on getting there they were told the coordinator travelled to Abonema to partake in the elections.

“The delegation went to Abonema in Rivers State to see the coordinator in his compound. It was almost like a suicide mission because of the gun battle in the area when they got there. They waited for two days and later proceeded to the house of the coordinator. They were still not allowed by security officials to see him.

“Other officials of the amnesty programme took over the matter and ensured the delegation did not see the coordinator. They told us that were not properly documented. We are appealing to the coordinator to come to our aide.

“Right now we are frustrated but we don’t want to engage in violence. We only want to go to school. Even if they said we were not properly documented, we are not illegal Niger Deltans”

•Sourced from The Nation report

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