Ex-militants clash with security forces at Akwa Ibom Government House; Demand that Gov. Udom pay them monthly stipends, allowances
Dennis Udoma
Pandemonium erupted in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, Tuesday, when over 200 ex-Niger Delta agitators clashed with the Police and other security forces at Government House around 11.45 am.
Problem broke out when the ex-militants who demanded to see the state Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel for the payment of what they described as “house allowances and monthly stipends” since 2011 were resisted by the security personnel attached to the Hill-Top Mansion.
Earlier, the ex- militants were said to have barricaded all the adjoining roads linking the Wellington Bassey Way, where Government House is located before they stormed the main gate for access to talk with Governor Emmanuel.
But a senior security personnel who was on hand, told them to go back as the Governor was away in Abuja, and was not immediately available to talk to them.
Irked by that information which they thought was meant to deceive them, the ex-agitators who were clad in black T-Shirts and jean trousers with red scarves tied round their heads, became unruly and started demonstrating, which later impeded human and vehicular traffic in the area for hours. The quick intervention of a combined team of security forces made up of the Army, Anti-riot Police Mobile Force, Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and the Department of State Services, DSS, brought the situation under control.
But the ex-militants’ Commander, ‘General’ Ebong Friday, while speaking to Global Patriot Newspapers, dismissed the claims that, the group came to cause mayhem at Government House.
He said, they went there on a peaceful demonstration to see Governor Emmanuel to ask for their house allowances and monthly stipends owed to about 340 ex-militants adding that, the state government has been dilly-dallying on settling their N55000 monthly entitlements due to each of them under the Niger-Delta Amnesty programme since 2011.
‘Gen.’ Friday, while re-assuring government that, they will keep to their peace accord for peace to reign in the State and the Niger-Delta region in general, appealed to the state government to expedite action in settling their allowances as well as forward their files to the Federal Government to forestall crisis.
“We want the state government to pay what belongs to us so that; peace will reign in our state.
“Since we finished our training at the amnesty camps, Akwa Ibom State Government keeps delaying our matter and we are asking that, it should forward our names to the Federal Government amnesty office since it cannot solve our problem”, Gen. Friday stressed.
Investigation revealed that, the state government is not taking the issue with the ex-militants’ allowances and welfare seriously since that was the fourth time their effort to see the governor failed.
A source, who spoke on grounds of anonymity said, “Whenever the ex-militants come to see the Governor, they will be told to go back and give the government two weeks or three weeks etc for the Governor to arrange and see them.
According to him, “Looking at it critically, the Governor should as a matter of urgency endeavour to sit down to sort out the issues with them once and for all because, they may not be ordinarily patient as any delay with this kind of men could be dangerous”.
Meanwhile, Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) were carefully positioned around the Ibom Plaza, Wellington Bassey Way Round About by Brooks Street and the Government House Gate, while heavily armed security personnel who manned the area were also seen screening motorists and other passers-by within the vicinity of the demonstration.
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Murtala Mani who spoke through his Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Akwa Ibom State Command, Cornelia Nwawe, said the protesters were not ex-militants but hoodlums emphasizing that, the Command would not fold its hands and allow any unlawful assembly and criminality to thrive.
Effort to speak with the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Emmanuel, Mr. Ekerete Udoh on the matter was not successful as he neither picked his calls nor responded to text messages.
But the Liaison Officer, Presidential Amnesty Office, Abuja, Mr. Piriye Kiyaramo when contacted on the telephone said, it sounds strange that the ex-agitators should go to Government House to protest that they have not been paid.
Kiyaramo maintained that the group may not be part of the presidential amnesty programme that was documented at Obubra Camp in Cross River State when the militants dropped their arms to embrace peace explaining that, the presidential amnesty is not a state government programme and so, it was needless for them to have gone to protest at Government House.
“Hearing that a group of ex-militants in Akwa Ibom have gone to Government House to protest that since 2011 they have not been attended to is what I can’t understand. If ex-militants have any case, they should channel their case to the Presidential Amnesty Office in Abuja, which is where I am deployed to the Niger-Delta as a Liaison Officer.
“If they have matters and it comes to my office, I will channel them to the head office in Abuja and besides, we have leaders among the ex-agitators that coordinate the activities of ex-militants in phases 1,2 and 3 who dropped arms and embraced peace”, he said.
The Liaison Officer insisted that the ex-agitators in Akwa Ibom state should address their issues to the Amnesty Office in Abuja if they are under the presidential amnesty programme and have been captured among the 30,000 ex-militants that laid down their arms to embrace peace.
