Eighteen former militant leaders from three states of the Niger Delta region, has sent a protest letter to acting President Yemi Osinbajo over alleged disobedience by the Presidential Amnesty Office to orders of the court in the ongoing four years litigation over their non-inclusion.
The 18 aggrieved ex-militant leaders, drawn from Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa States, who had embraced amnesty under the Third Phase, warned that though they embraced amnesty in 2012 and had taken their grievances to a Federal High Court in suit number FHC/YNG/CS/102/2013 in compliance with the peace preached by the Federal Government, the failure of the Presidential Amnesty Office to comply with a court order to appear before the court or find ways to settle out of court with the ex-militants was provocative and could renew tension and frustration among youths of the region.
The ex-militants, Asenekiri Oyinle, Angiama-Owei Oyindoubra, John Government, Henry Gomoromo, John Sawyer, Trydi Okpeke, Dollar Motor, Selebi Ayowei, Bobra Angese, Ekerebi Umber and others, alleged that the sense of frustration and deceit which played out during the era of Kingsley Kuku’s amnesty committee has been sustained by the Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh led committee without due respect to the court and its orders.
“The Amnesty Committee erred by refusing to include them in the ongoing amnesty programme after series of resolutions from meetings with the past and present National Security Advisers, NSAs then and instead of respecting the resolutions and directives from the NSAs, the Amnesty Committee turned down the call to include the ex-militants and adopted a divide and rule tactics with the inclusion of three out of the 22 persons,” they said.
The ex-militant said though the case against the Amnesty Office was adjourned till July 7, 2017, “The failure of the Amnesty Office to appear in court or settle out of court, as requested by them and ordered by the court, shows that the option left to them may not be desirable to the peace initiative secured by you, the aActing President, during a tour of the region. We are peace loving leaders and resolved to draw your attention to the deliberate undermining of the peace in the region by the Amnesty office led by Boroh.
Recall that the aggrieved ex-militants in a statement of claim against the Presidential Amnesty Implementation Committee had sought the court order compelling the Amnesty Committee to approve reasonable slots for them as agreed at one of the peace meetings of December 19, 2011.
They are asking the court to compel the defendants to pay due allowances of the plaintiffs and their foot soldiers from March, 2012 until the plaintiffs are fully settled under the Niger Delta Amnesty Committee and for the court to compel the defendants to immediately send the plaintiffs and their foot soldiers for the mandatory skills acquisition training for the Niger Delta militants.
