Immediate past Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Kingsley Kuku, has alleged of plot to link him with terrorist acts and stockpiling of arms in the country.
The former presidential aide, in a press release on Friday, said people in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari are conspiring with security agencies in the country to arrest him at the airport upon his return to Nigeria on charges bordering on terrorism.
Kuku stated that the alarm became necessary following an online media report by National Security Watchdog, which claimed that “there was incontrovertible evidence linking (me) to terrorist acts and illegal stockpiling of arms.”
The group also called on the Attorney-General of the Federation to initiate proceedings for his extradition in order to face terrorism charges.
“The claim by this group must not be taken lightly by either the government or well-meaning Nigerians. This is because a few months ago, I received information that a security agency was plotting to link me with acts of terrorism falsely. This information with the evidence is already before a law court, for which the security agency has denied. It is therefore not a coincidence that a shadowy group in the name of National Security Watchdog was created to reinforce their claim.
“As a peace-loving Nigerian, I have worked for the peace, progress and prosperity of our dear country over the last one and a half decades. I am therefore shocked that such dastardly and criminal activity could be linked to me.
“Having failed to gather concrete evidence of misappropriation of funds against me, these persons are now fishing for evidence to link me with terrorism. They will definitely fail again.
“Since 2007 when I was appointed Secretary of the Federal Government Committee on Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Niger Delta, I have rendered committed and selfless service to Nigeria.
“It is on record that during my tenure as Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the Niger Delta were reduced to the barest minimum. Working with the state governments in the region, stakeholders, prominent ex-agitation leaders as well as security and intelligence agencies of government, we were able to contain the ugly spectre of criminality, kidnapping and related crimes in the Niger Delta. It is rather unfortunate that just six months after the Goodluck Jonathan administration left office, insecurity in the region has risen sharply,” Kuku stated.
The former PAP boss maintained that he is neither a fugitive nor is he on the run. So, the call for his extradition is equally curious and irresponsible.
“I have been out of the country undergoing a medical procedure and will definitely return home. My present location is known to the government and even the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission that has invited me.
“But, importantly, there are two subsisting order of an Abuja High Court and that of a Federal High Court in Lagos asking all security agencies to maintain the status quo ante bellum pending the determination of the matter before them. The courts granted these reliefs in defence of my fundamental human rights, which have been threatened by some overzealous state institutions,” he said.
Kuku, who was said to be recuperating from a knee surgery in a United States hospital, had on September 16 said he will honour the invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on September 30.
