Ex-militants on the rampage, block East-West Road

Hundreds of travelers were on Tuesday left stranded for eight hours on the East/West Road as hundreds of ex-militants protested their non-inclusion in the post-amnesty programme of the Federal Government. The protest, which took security agents unaware caused confusion and pandemonium as residents of Yenagoa became apprehensive that the capital city would be invaded by the angry protesters.

The ex-militants under the aegis of Niger Delta Development ex-militants, third phase drawn from Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Ondo states had recently written to President Goodluck Jonathan alerting him on the moves by some influential people within government circle to derail the peace in the Niger Delta region by the deliberate abandonment of some of the ex-militants who had surrendered their arms.
www.naijapaymentsonline.com


While issuing a one-week ultimatum to the Federal Government, they warned of dire consequences if the Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs and coordinator of the post-amnesty programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku insisted he would not co-opt them into the amnesty programme.
Checks indicated that Monday night, the leadership of the ex-militants led by Julius Joseph and Tam Odogwu decided to block the major East/West Road to send a message to the Federal Government on their capacity to disrupt the economy of the country at the expiration of the one-week ultimatum.

As early at 4.30 am, those from Bayelsa had stormed the East/West Road and were joined by their counterparts from other states for the immediate blockade of the road using heavy-duty vehicles’, kerosene tankers and bone fires in strategic locations along the road.
By 6am travelers going to Lagos, Warri and Benin from Bayelsa and Rivers state and those going to Port Harcourt from Warri were forced to stop as the situation at Mbiama junction with the presence of ex- militants had became chaotic with many of them carrying placards with the inscriptions such as ‘President Goodluck Jonathan fulfill your promise to pay us’ ‘We want our payment in one week or’ We have surrendered our arms, include us in the amnesty programme’ ‘Tell Kingsley Kuku to include us in the amnesty programme.’ They were chanting war songs.

The protest and blockade halted vehicular movement with a long stretch of cars from Mbiama to Ahoada in Rivers State and Mbiama to Kaiama in Bayelsa State. The situation forced some travelers to make calls to the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) and immediately five hilux of fully armed soldiers arrived the scene.

However Joseph refused to disperse the boys, insisting that they needed to talk to somebody in authority about their grievances. In an interview, Joseph said, their patience has worn out since the amnesty committee had refused to listen to their pleas. According to him, they had explored the option of dialogue by sending correspondence to the amnesty office and the Presidency, but nobody has taken up their matter.

His words: “What we are doing today is to register our grievances with the amnesty committee. We were promised to be 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 we have not heard anything from the amnesty committee. We want to once again appeal to President 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 ultimatum we gave for the assurance that we would be paid by the end of this month”
Efforts by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of the Area command, Ahoada , M.I Buruche to calm the boys down proved abortive, as they ignore all his pleas to dismantle the barricade. At about 9.30 am, the JTF Sector 2 commander, Col M. Lasisi arrived the scene and expressed displeasure that they have blocked the entire road.

Lasisi who was furious threatened to deal with the ex-militants if they do not disperse. He pointed out that they have no right to deprive other Nigerians from the use of the East/ West road by blocking it. However he had to soft pedal on his threat when he realized that Joseph remained adamant as he refused to tell the boys to leave the road.

He later appealed to them to give peace a chance and trekked with the ex-militants from Mbiama road to the new Bayelsa gateway road where he addressed them and promised to pass their message across to the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile panic has gripped the amnesty committee over the threat of the excluded ex-militants with the hurried postponement of the resumption of camping for the 17th batch of ex-militants at the Obubra camp in Cross Rivers State.
Investigations revealed the Kuku led amnesty committee got wind of plans of some ex-militants to forcefully enter the camp and decided to postpone the resumption date for outstanding issues to be resolved.

In a radio announcement monitored on Radio Bayelsa, Kuku said, the postponement which is indefinite was due to unforeseen circumstances. He disclosed that a new date of resumption would be communicated to those expected in the camp, warning that those who are planning to forcefully enter the camp when the camp resumes should perish the thought as they would be decisively dealt with.