Niger Delta Ex-militants to Resume Bombing Over Unpaid Allowances

A group of former warlords in the Niger Delta have threatened to start bombing oil installations tomorrow. The group, which issued a statement on Thursday, announced that it took the decision after a three-hour meeting held in the creeks of the region recently. Two weeks ago, the militants had handed the government a...
14-day ultimatum to meet some demands. Their demands included the payment of their monthly allowances and the recognition of some militants who embraced the amnesty programme by submitting their arms to the Kingsley Kuku-led Presidential Amnesty Committee. They had also demanded that the Federal Government should urgently probe the Presidential Amnesty Committee, describing it as a fraud.

"Except these modest requests are granted within the next 14 days, the Presidential Amnesty Committee should be ready for more face-offs and violent confrontations," the ex-militants had warned.

The statement issued by one General’ Keithy Sese, "the General Officer commanding all ex-militants on Phase 3," claimed that the group had no choice but to resort to the use of violence, "the only language that the Nigerian government understands."

It warned "all multi-nationals and their expatriate workers to urgently relocate from the states of Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers as we will not be held responsible for anything that befalls people who refuse to listen to these modest directives."

The statement said that the meeting concluded that government officials in the Presidential Amnesty Committee were applying double standard in dealing with ex-militants from some ethnic nationalities.

The ex-militants had demanded that the Federal Government should probe the Presidential Amnesty Committee, describing it as a fraud. Key among their requests was that the Federal Government should "recognise and train" all ex-militants who had submitted their arms to the Joint Military Task Force.

They had also demanded that those who had already attended the training but were not being paid, should be paid regular monthly allowances...
Source: ThePUNCH.