No fewer than 500 ex-militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme have vowed to unleash mayhem in the Niger Delta region following the non-payment of their three-month allowances by the Amnesty Office.
The former militants said they would breach the peace in the region if the Coordinator of PAP, Brig. Gen. Paul Boroh, fails to pay them after five days.
The angry ex-militants noted after a meeting in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on Monday, that they would begin their showdown by blocking the East-West Road – a major gateway to the South-South.
They said when Boro resumed duty; he paid them two out of their five months outstanding allowances.
They, however, said their names were excluded from the list when Boro paid the three months outstanding allowances.
They accused the management of PAP of diverting their money.
One of the concerned ex-militants, Bipelede Enere, said that in the last two weeks, the Amnesty Office paid some of the ex-militants in the third phase of the amnesty programme their three-month allowances.
He, however, said when the amnesty office paid the money, it did not pay over 500 of them in the third phase.
Enere said, “They have not told us the reason why we have not been paid. As I speak with you, I have not been paid my three-month allowances but when they paid the two-month allowances some months ago, we received the money.
“We don’t want them to push us to the point where we would take drastic action that would make people feel we want to fight against the state. That is why we are using this medium to appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari to advise the leadership of the amnesty programme to pay us our money.”
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