The Presidential Amnesty Office has appealed to former agitators in the Niger Delta to be
calm and eschew any act that would disturb the peace of the region. The Amnesty Office, in a release by the Head of Media and Communications, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, said the appeal became necessary following the apprehension caused by the delay in the payment of the May 2015 stipends and in-training allowances to onshore and offshore beneficiaries of the programme. It explained that the delay was occasioned by the ongoing transition process at the federal level. It, however, assured beneficiaries that the funds for May stipends and other allowances had been released and was intact, but that the office was awaiting the required directive for disbursement in the absence of a substantive chairman of the programme or a Special Adviser to oversee the programme. It urged the former agitators to reciprocate the good gesture of President Muhammadu Buhari, who in his inauguration address on May 29 assured of investing heavily in the programme, by maintaining the peace at this time. It said: This is a transition period. So it is important for citizens, especially the former agitators, to be patient with the new government, which needs time to settle down to the serious business of governance. The office also dismissed as untrue an allegation by some former agitators that the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr. Peter Ayoola, was planning to divert funds meant for beneficiaries, saying such act
was impossible given the strict accounting system in place at the federal level.