Ex-militants protest, block East-West road for hours
AS hundreds of former militants went on rampage yesterday, the amnesty office said President Goodluck Jonathan had not directed it to admit former agitators in the Niger Delta who failed to embrace the programme.
Hundreds of former militants drawn from Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ondo states barricaded the East-West Road at Mbiama, Rivers State to protest an alleged plot by some influential persons within government to exclude them from the third phase of the amnesty rehabilitation programme.
The Guardian learnt that the former militants blocked the busy East-West Road as early as 4:30 a.m. and made several bonfires, and this prevented heavy-duty vehicles from driving through the busy route.
As early as 6:30 a.m., following a security alert, men of the Joint Task Force went to the scene of the protest and tried to persuade the former militants to open up the road for a free vehicular passage but they refused.
The fierce-looking former militants brandished various placards with the inscriptions such as "We have surrendered our arms, include us in the amnesty programme," "President Goodluck Jonathan fulfil your promise to pay us our allowances," and "We want our payment in one week or....."
The leader of the protesters who identified himself as Julius Joseph said they wanted President Jonathan to prevail on his Special Assistant on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku, to immediately include them in the amnesty programme.
"What we are doing today is to register our grievances with the amnesty committee. We were promised being included in the amnesty programme if we surrendered our arms, and we have done that. All of us have our certificates of disarmament after we surrendered our arms to the security agencies but up till now we have not heard anything from the amnesty committee," he said.
He continued: "We want to once again appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan not to allow some people spoil the peace in the Niger Delta. This is a peaceful protest and it is a warning on what we can do after the one week we gave for the assurance that we would be paid by the end of this month."
It took the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of the Area Command, Ahoada, M. I. Buruche and the JTF Sector Two Commander, Col. M. Lasisi, several hours to persuade the irate militants to open up the road and ease up the chaotic traffic that ensued.
And against the background of the protest, Kuku has reiterated that the amnesty programme does not have a third phase.
In a statement issued by the spokesman of the amnesty office, Henry Ugbomue, on behalf of Kuku, he said that the clamour for the inclusion of more persons in the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme was unhealthy and clearly offended the letter and spirit of the 2009 Amnesty Proclamation.
The Guardian