Unpaid Allowances: Ex-militants Threaten To Unleash Mayhem

Ex-militants protesting

About 500 former militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) have threatened to unleash mayhem in the Niger Delta region over the non-payment of their three-month allowances by the amnesty office.

The Punch reports that the angry ex-militants stated that they would breach the peace in the region if Brigadier General Paul Boroh, the coordinator of the PAP, fails to pay them after five days.
Speaking after a meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, on Monday, October 26, the former militants warned that they would begin their showdown by blocking the East-West Road, which is a major gateway to the South-South.

They said that Boro had paid them two out of their five-month outstanding allowances. According to the ex-militants, their names were excluded from the list when the PAP coordinator paid the three-month outstanding allowances.

Bipelede Enere, one of the concerned ex-militants, said that in the last two weeks some of ex-militants in the third phase were paid their three-month allowances. However, he added that over 500 of them did not receive their money.

“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,” he said.

On Tuesday, October 20, a group of Niger Delta ex-militants took to the streets of Abuja protesting against an alleged fraud within the management of the amnesty programme.
They accused the handlers of the programme, specifically one Peter Evah, of embezzling over N405 million the federal government had released for them.

Meanwhile, the government has denied owing the former Niger Delta agitators. According to the amnesty office, all monthly payments to ex-militants under the programme were up to date.