By Remi Bamgbose
Some ex-militants from Ondo State on Wednesday appealed to the Federal Government to pay them their nine months’ amnesty allowances.
Mr Ibori Ogailo, the leader of the group, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Igbokoda that the non-payment of the allowances had subjected them and their families to untold hardships.
He said that the government had reneged on its promise after they (the militants) were lured into surrendering their arms and ammunition as the criterion for the payment of the allowances.
He said that they had sent several appeals to the Ondo State Government on the issue and had to resort to a protest at the governor’s office on Monday in Akure as a follow-up.
“About 100 of us protested to the governor’s office but we were dispersed with guns and teargas while some of our members sustained injuries.
“They begged us to surrender our guns, ammunitions and since we had done that, peace has been reigning in the state. ‘’
Ogailo said that the government had stopped paying the ex-militants their allowances for some months now.
He pleaded that the government should revisit the matter.
However, Mr Segun Ajiboye, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State who confirmed the protest to NAN, said that amnesty was a Federal Government scheme.
“As Nigerians, they are free to stage a peaceful protest and nobody dispersed them with guns or teargas then. The state government even paid their transport fares back to their communities,” Ajiboye said.
NAN reports that no fewer than 1,500 ex-militants surrendered their arms and ammunition to the state government on Nov. 27, 2017.
