Some of the ex-Niger Delta militants, who were granted amnesty by the Federal Government in 2012, on Tuesday blocked the entrance to the Akwa Ibom State Government House for more than four hours.
The militants, numbering over 200, stormed the road leading to the Government House — Willington Bassey Road — in six Toyota Hiace buses, carrying placards bearing different inscriptions and chanting war songs.
Some of the placards read, “We are tired of coming to this place; please pay us our salaries’, ‘How can we be slaves in our state, and other states’ militants have been paid?’
The protesting ex-militants did not allow any vehicles to enter or leave the premises of the Government House as they blocked the road.
One of their leaders, Mr. Ebong Friday, said the ex-militants in Akwa Ibom State resorted to protest because they were excluded from the Federal Government’s amnesty programme.
Friday threatened that they would not leave the Government House until the state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, attended to them.
“Let the state government capture our names and send them for the Federal Government’s amnesty programme.
“All other states have been taken care of except Akwa Ibom militants,” Friday said.
He claimed that the ex-militants in Akwa Ibom State had been neglected by the state government after they laid down their arms in 2012, adding that the Tuesday visit to the Government House was the fourth that the ex-militants paid on the government without any having their complaints addressed.
He said the group had earlier given the government a period of two months within which to address the ex-militants’ grievances before the Tuesday’s protest.
But the Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom State, Murtala Mani, who addressed the ex-militants, appealed to them to remain calm and be law-abiding while pressing for their demands.
Mani assured them that the government would not allow them to suffer after they had laid down their arms.
But as of the time of filing this report, it was observed that the protesting ex-militants had yet to disperse. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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They should go and work like other people in their community.
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