Ex-militants beg Buhari over amnesty arrears

 File: Ex-militants blocking the entrance of A'Ibom Govt house

IN NIGERIA: No fewer than 30,000 ex-Niger Delta militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the payment of their five months’ salaries owed them.
They contended that the President’s quick intervention would douse the tension already mounting in the region over the unpaid arrears.
The Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Phase Two, Bayelsa State chapter, Salvation Ibina-Rufus, urged Buhari to order the Federal Ministry of Finance to release money to pay the ex-agitators to avoid another round of restiveness in the region.

Ibina-Rufus, who made the appeal in a statement on Sunday, sympathised with aggrieved former militants but encouraged them to exercise patience with the government.
Ibina-Rufus, a director in the Bayelsa State Environmental Sanitation Authority, noted that based on the meeting they held with Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd.), he was hopeful that beneficiaries wouls be paid immediately after the New Year break.
He claimed that the delay in their payment was due to Ministry of Finance inability to release funds for the Amnesty office to commence payment.
He commended his members for their understanding and patience, advising them to maintain the existing peace.