Ex-militants drawn from three Niger Delta states of Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa, have petitioned President Muhammad Buhari to investigate the alleged diversion of an estimated sum of N7.5billion meant for the Amnesty Programme.
Specifically, the angry militants want the President to probe disbursements of funds by the former Chairmen of the Federal Government Amnesty Implementation Committees.
They alleged that the Amnesty Implementation Committee under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Kingsley Kuku withheld the agreed sum of N.5million approved by Late President Musa Yar’ adua for accommodation and Vehicle allowances each year.
The protest letter signed by Comrade John Government from Delta State, argued the investigation into the missing money was necessary to avoid a disguised attempt to cover it up.
“But since the start of the Amnesty programme, the Chairmen of the Implementation Committee have refused to pay. They paid a sum of N150, 000 last year out of the N500, 000. What we are asking is why have they refused to pay? Were the monies not budgeted for by the National Assembly? Who stole our money? We need answers.”
“President Buhari should know that the repeated threats by some ex-militants to return to the creeks may have been occasioned by the injustice committed against them under past Chairmen of the Amnesty Implementation Committee. We are calling for an open investigation into the various cases of illegality and fund diversions,” the letter reads in part.
While commending the recent declaration by the Federal Government through the Chairman of the Amnesty Implementation Committee, Brig. Gen. Paul Boroh, that they do not owe ex-militants in the region, they however, insisted that the issues of exclusion, illegal and selfish allocation of slots and diversion of funds should be investigated.
