Ex-militants threaten violence over non-inclusion in amnesty deal

The government may soon be confronted with another security challenge, as over 200 ex-militants in the Niger Delta region, who had been granted amnesty by the federal government, spoke vehemently against the non-inclusion of many of its members in the amnesty training program. The militants have vowed to return to the creeks if urgent steps were not taken in order to ensure that they are included in the programme. They stated that even though they obeyed the federal government’s directive to lay down their arms in 2009 and were issued certificates, “we have not been incorporated into the amnesty programme.” The leader of the group who is the representative of Edo State as an ex- militant (aka Karibu) and the National Secretary, Tam Odogwu, spoke to the National Assembly, during their protest in Benin City, the Edo State capital, yesterday, appealing to the government to ensure that their own side of the amnesty agreement is kept to just avoid further outbreak of violence. Kabiru said: “The State Security Services, SSS, Director and the Joint Task Force, JTF, came to my community to disarm me and my boys. But we have not been included in the amnesty programme.”