Ex-militants sue FG over alleged exclusion from amnesty programme

SCORES of aggrieved former militant youths from Bayelsa and Delta states yesterday filed a suit before the Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa seeking an order compelling the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and Chairman of the Amnesty Implementation Committee, Kingsley Kuku and the Amnesty Committee to honour an agreement reached with the Federal Government for their inclusion in the amnesty programme.

   The suit filed before Justice Lambo Akanbi claims that the aggrieved ex-militants were among those that had accepted amnesty under the Third Phase and surrendered their weapons to the Federal Government through the Amnesty Office in 2011 under the Peace Initiative of the Federal Government.
   The aggrieved ex-militants, including Asenekiri Oyinle, Angiama-Owei, John Government, John Sawyer, Trydy Okpeke, Dollar Motor, Slebi Ayowei, Bombra Angese and Richman Oyindoubra claim that the Amnesty Committee erred by refusing to include them in the ongoing programme after series of resolutions from meetings with the past and present National Security Advisers to the President, the late General Owei Azazi and Col. Dasuki Sambo respectively.
   The protesters claim that instead of respecting the resolutions and directives from the National Security Adviser, Dasuki Sambo, the Amnesty Committee turned down the call to include the ex-militants and adopted a divide and rule tactics with the inclusion of three out of the 22 persons affected by the exclusion.
  In the statement of claim against Kuku and the committee made available to our reporter, the youths seek a court order compelling the Amnesty Committee to approve reasonable slots for them as claimed to have been agreed at one of the peace meetings on 19th December 2011.
   “For the court to compel the defendants to pay due allowances of the plaintiffs and their foot soldiers from March 2012 until the plaintiffs are fully settled under the Niger Delta Amnesty Committee. To compel the defendants to immediately send the plaintiffs and their foot soldiers for the mandatory skills acquisition training for the Niger Delta militants.”
   Also being sought by the aggrieved militants is an order from the Court compelling the Amnesty Committee to pay the sum of N7million representing alleged general damages and N1m representing cost of litigation.