Ex-militants protest non fulfillment of Amnesty terms in Ondo

Ex-militants from Ilaje and Ese Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State, who recently surrendered their arms following the state government’s promise to include them in the Federal Government amnesty programme, on Friday, went berserk, protesting the non fulfillment of the terms by the state and the federal governments.

The ex-agitators numbering about 500 arrived at the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC) office located in Oba-Ile, Akure North Local Government Area of the state, carrying placards and chanting anti government songs.

The road leading to the office of the commission was blocked while burn fire was set up thus disrupting official activities of the commission.

The group who described the new Amnesty programme organised by the Ondo State government between November 9 and November 21 as a sham and not all inclusive as portrayed by the government, threatened to return to the creek if it failed to honour its own part of the agreement. The ex militants, however , called on President Muhammadu Buhari to send his men to the state to ensure that due process is followed, while nepotism   should be guarded against.

It however took the effort of mobile policemen who fired several canisters of tear gas into the air to disperse the protesting  group before normalcy was restored to the area.

Some innocent citizens were reported wounded during the protest which lasted for about three hours.

Commenting on the incident, the state commissioner for Information and Orientation, Yemi Olowolabi, stated that those staging the protest were not ex militants, but a group of jobless and disgruntled elements.

He explained that the number of ex militants captured during the biometric exercise was 4,000 but that 1,000 forms were sent from Abuja.

According to him, leaders from the different camps were invited  who harmonised and distributed the forms.

The commissioner added that the state amnesty programme had not only received commendation from other Niger Delta states but has become a model.