A group, the Akwa Ibom Revolutionary Council, has urged the federal government and civil society organizations to probe the exclusion of 22 Akwa Ibom ex-militants from the Presidential Amnesty Programme(PAP).
It said that 22 out of 46 members of Ukanafun Freedom Fighters including their camp leader, ex General Udom Ebetor who accepted presidential Amnesty in 2009 have been excluded from PAP.
In a statement signed by the National Secretary of the group, General Nsa Ikpaisong, National Secretary and General Uko Akpan Ekpo for Ukanafun Freedom Fighters, they alleged that over N257m which ought to have accrued to the excluded 22 ex-militants has been diverted.
They lamented that the affected ex-agitators and their families have suffered untold hardship due to the non-payment of their monthly stipends since January 2011.
The statement reads in parts, “This same 46 members were also invited to participate in the demobilisation training programme in Obubra and successfully completed the training, Certificate and UN Code issued on the 26th September 2010 to them.
“Further more; this same 46 members were paid monthly stipends of N65,000 from October 2009 to December 2010, then from January 2011 till date, 22 members have not been paid their monthly stipends without any reason, including the camp leader.
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“This has brought severe hardship, pains and suffering upon these 22 members who voluntarily accepted presidential amnesty, denied arm struggle for the interest of peace, stability and economic growth in Akwa Ibom State, Niger Delta and Nigeria.
“We believe that the Niger Delta struggle was to fight against injustices, under-development in the Niger Delta and the presidential Amnesty Programme was established to champion this cause.
“But surprisingly, the people who were saddled with these responsibilities had done great harm to the programme and also denied the direct beneficiaries their due entitlements which has resulted in death, pennilessness, severe hardship on these individuals and their families”.
The group called for the immediate reorganization of the PAP to carry and protect the interest of the ex-agitators across the nine Niger Delta states.
