Niger Delta militants block East-West Road to protest the non-payment of their allowances

NIGER Delta militants blocked the East-West Road in Bayelsa State and shut down traffic for many hours yesterday to protest the fact that they have not been paid their monthly allowances under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (Pap).

Under the programme first instituted by Late President Umaru Yar'Adua, the Niger Delta militants agreed to lay down their weapons and accept to go on training programmes. In exchange for the this offer, the government is to pay them a monthly stipend, which is handed down to them through their various organisations.

Yesterday, however, the ex-agitators, barricaded Mbiama Road, a border town between Rivers and Bayelsa states, called on the federal government to intervene because they have not been paid this month. In addition, the ex-militants, who belonged to the amnesty’s third phase, said they would stage a massive protest in Abuja if after seven days the federal government failed to remove the Pap coordinator, Charles Dokubo.

They displayed placards with inscriptions such as Pay us our money, Amnesty office pay us, among others. It took the intervention of soldiers and the central zone chairman of the Ijaw Youths Council, Tari Porri, to convince the ex-militants to remove the barricade after three hours.

A gentleman identified as General Cairo, who was the leader of the protesters, lamented the fact  that they were excluded from the scheme despite submitting their arms in 2011. According to General Cairo, following his insistence on inclusion, he suffered incarceration for four years in many detention facilities.