ABUJA, Nigeria, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- A human rights activist operating in the Niger Delta says Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua's lengthy illness has put the possibility of peace in jeopardy.
Activist Omo Irabor said with the president being hospitalized in November, the possibility of achieving peace between government and rebel forces as part of an amnesty program is unlikely, Voice of America reported Saturday.
"The president is sick; the country is sick," Irabor said. "And the Niger Delta amnesty is just not sick but is doomed and failed."
While more than 8,000 rebels surrendered their weaponry as part of the amnesty program, the peace effort has remained stalled with Yar'Adua hospitalized.
The precarious truce in the Niger Delta was further threatened last week when a militant group attacked an oil pipeline operated by Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell.
Voice of America said despite such incidents, attorney Edward Oformeh in Nigeria's oil city of Warri remains hopeful.
"It takes time to plant and it takes time for what you have planted to grow and for you to harvest," he said of the peace process.
