Ex-militants, under the second phase of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, has pleaded with the Federal Government to pay the three months arrears of their stipends.
The Chairman of the militants affected in Bayelsa State, Ebina Salvation, in a statement, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to note that the existing peace in the Niger Delta was as a result of the Amnesty Programme.
Mr Salvation highlighted that the delay in the payment of stipends to ex-militants was a high risk on the part of the Federal Government.
He pleaded with the government to release adequate funds to the Amnesty Office for effective implementation of the programme.
The ex-militants’ leader also called on the Federal Government to go back to the blueprint of the
Amnesty Programme and implement its content by interfacing with the Coordinator of the scheme,
Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd) and the ex-agitators.
He, however, disassociated the second phase ex-militants from a statement purportedly written by factional leader of the programme, Stephen Ebisintei, who allegedly threatened that they would shut down all Central Bank of Nigeria branches in the region over failure to pay their stipends.
Mr Salvation restated that the Amnesty Office under the leadership of Boroh was doing well and therefore should not be blamed for the delay in the payment of their stipends.
“The allegations lack substance and should be thrown to the dustbin of history by all right thinking persons.
“We, therefore, urge members of the group to discountenance Stephen Ebisintei’s display of falsehood which is a figment of his imagination and that of his co- travellers,”
The amnesty programme had brought relative peace to the region after years of agitation by militants.
But months after the All Progressives Congress took over power from the Peoples Democratic Party that had introduced the amnesty Programme, activities of militants re-surged, with some oil facilities attacked.
The attacks, most of which were claimed by a militant group that calls itself the Niger Delta Avengers, have affected the nation’s revenue, since output dropped by 700,000 barrels per day to 1.56 million barrels per day.
The group had few weeks ago said it was ready for a ceasefire and negotiation with the Federal Government.
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