Post-amnesty: Ex-militants protest again

Posted by admin Headlines, Niger Delta Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

A break-away faction of the Third Phase ex-militants from the Niger Delta again on Monday staged a protest at the East/ West Road Yenagoa, causing traffic gridlock for hours.

The ex-militants who said they were protesting non-inclusion in the post amnesty programme set ablaze a circulation van with plate number XR 264 LND belonging to Vintage Press Company publishers of the Nation newspaper.

According to eyewitness account, the ex-militants who had converged on the East/ West road as early as 2am, sighted the van and immediately pounced on the driver. The driver had to escape when some of the youths demanded for petroleum to set him ablaze. While he escaped, the Monday’s edition of the paper and the latest edition of The Newswatch magazine were set ablaze with the van.

The Newswatch Management in a press statement said, “a vehicle conveying 7,000 copies of the current edition of Newswatch (dated November 7, 2011) from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa in Bayelsa State was attacked at Mbiama, Rivers State. Both the vehicle and all the copies of the magazine were burnt, apparently to stop the magazine from being circulated in Bayelsa State According to the General Manager of The Newswatch, Bala Dan Abu.

“The edition’s cover story is titled “Many Sins of Sylva – Why Bayelsa Power Brokers Want Him Out. It is on the race for the People’s Democratic Party”, PDP, gubernatorial ticket for the February 11, 2012 election in the state in which several people are challenging the incumbent governor, Timipre Sylva.
“The story discusses the grounds of opposition to the incumbent governor’s aspiration. It also reflected very generously, the governor’s reaction as expressed in an interview granted by Nathan Egba, Bayelsa State commissioner for Information “he further alleged.

The management of Newswatch Communications Limited, publishers of Newswatch magazine condemned the act of brigandage in its entirety and called on the law enforcement agencies to ensure that those involved in this lawlessness do not escape punishment.

The management would also like to assure the magazine’s teeming readers that Newswatch will always remain on the side of truth, fairness and objectivity, no matter the threat and intimidation, said the statement by the Management.
The sector two command of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) deployed soldiers in the area with the instructions not to shoot to forestall the breakdown of law and order. The JTF Armoured Personel Carrier (APC) was seen patrolling the area to stem the tide of violence.

The leader of the protesters, Thomas Isaac in an interview, said the protest was staged to express their displeasure with the Federal Government. He exonerated his boys from the burning of the Vintage Press van, stressing that the protest was hijacked by those who wanted to derail their agitation.

Isaac warned that if the Federal Government failed to listen to them, they would be forced to go back to the creeks.
His words: “We have voluntarily surrendered our arms to embrace peace in the Niger Delta region. Almost one year after the amnesty, nobody has called us. Every day we keep hearing that we are not militants but only acquired arms to come and submit.

This protest is a signal to the Federal Government on what we are capable of doing. It was a peaceful protest and we did it to tell President Goodluck Jonathan that we are no longer happy with the government. Government has paid deaf ears to our plight because of what some people told them. They are waiting to see what we can do and we are ready for them. After this operation we are going back to the creeks.”
Reacting to the development, the media officer of the amnesty programme, Mr Henry Ugbolue said the amnesty office has been saddled with the task of demobilizing and re-integrating 27, 368 ex-militants, adding that there was no directive to include more people in the programme.

-Sunwp_posts