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Showing posts from April, 2013

Amnesty: To Give, Or Not To Give

Amnesty is a pardon extended by a government to a group of individuals usually for a political offence. It is an act of sovereign power which officially forgives a certain group or class of people who, though not yet convicted, are subject to trial. In June of 2009, the late former President Umaru Yar'adua - in a bid to curb the damage inflicted on Nigeria's economy by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) - announced a 60-day amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta. MEND, hitherto, had attacked and destroyed oil pipelines and kidnapped oil workers most of whom were expatriates. This reduced Nigeria's oil production to 1.3 barrels per and our country was unable to meet its quota of 2 million barrels as a member of the Organisation of Petroleum-exporting Countries (OPEC). Nigerians were sceptical about Yar'adua's decision to grant amnesty to Militants with most calling him a weak President and comparing him to his predecessor, Ex-presi