By Brave Dickson
Some ex-agitators from the Niger Delta region are now consulting legal experts with the aim of dragging the federal government to court following their exclusion as beneficiaries of the central government’s amnesty programme for repentant militants.
The ex-agitators under the aegis of the Undocumented 3rd Phase Ex-militants in Niger Delta who described their exclusion from the amnesty scheme of the federal government as child’s play said they are ready to seek justice through the court.
The leader of the group, Comrade Prince Eyeyon said, “we have surrendered our guns to the Nigerian Army in 2011 like others and had obtained all necessary clearance from DSS and other security agencies only for the federal government to abandon us by refusing to document us into its empowerment and rehabilitation schemes like it has been doing to some of our colleagues who went through the same process with us.
“We are tired of approaching government through peaceful means. We have written to the Nigerian president and other relevant authorities, yet no sign from the government to document us soon.
“We think we have exhausted our patience and we are now ready to drag the federal government to court. We have the necessary papers to prove how qualified we are in becoming part of our colleagues who are benefitting from the amnesty scheme.
“We are going to pray the court to compel the federal government to include us on the scheme and pay us all our accrued arrears beginning from when we surrendered our arms till date.
“We have consulted with our lawyers and have made all necessary papers ready that will strengthen our evidence in court. We can no longer condone these empty promises by the federal government which have elongated our patience in the past.”
Comrade Eyeyon said since they surrendered their arms to embrace amnesty, none of them had received neither monthly stipends nor skill acquisitions, describing the situation as unfair on the part of the government.
He said they surrendered their weapons to the Nigerian Army at the Delta State military barracks in 2011 following a promise by the federal government that they will be trained in various skills and be entitled to monthly stipends.
