NIGER Delta militants, numbering about 1,600, yesterday blocked the busy Abuja-Lokoja Highway, protesting non-implementation of the Federal Government amnesty programme.
The blockage brought vehicular and pedestrian traffic to a grinding halt for over eight hours before a combined team of Nigerian Army and Police Force dispersed the protesters.
It was learnt that the militants, who came in about 300 vehicles, were on their way to Abuja to register their grievances with President Goodluck Jonathan, but were stopped by the Kogi State Police Command at Jimeta Tollgate near the Murtala Muhammed bridge.
The Special Adviser to the president on Niger Delta Development Kingsley Kuku, told The Moment that the action of militants on Abuja – Lokoja ‘is a breach of order.’
The militants, however, insisted that they were protesting the Federal Government’s failure to keep to its terms of agreement between the two parties and warned that they would go back to the creeks to fight the government if there was no change in the situation.
A man, who called himself as one of the militants’ leaders, General Ramsey, confirmed to journalists that the militants were on their way to Abuja to meet with the president to register their displeasure and also give four days ultimatum to the Federal Government over their ill-handling of the amnesty programme.
‘The government asked us to come out of the creeks and lay down our arms which we did, but since then, the government has not fulfilled their own part of it, but kept promising us. While we have embraced the amnesty programme, the Federal Government is frustrating it by refusing to pay us and we don’t want to go back to the creeks or pick up arms,’ he said.
The 1,600 millitants were said to be all generals and commanders of their respective units who have foot soldiers under them, but have laid down their arms.
They said their foot soldiers are skeptical of their excuses and explanations given to them without tangible results, adding that the boys are alleging connivance with the authority.
According to Ramsey, the militants had graduated from the rehabilitation training in December last year without being paid, adding that the government is fond of empty promises.
‘We are giving four days ultimatum to the Federal Government to fulfill their side of the bargain. Our boys are angry and they want to go back to the creeks; we are tired of holding them back. So, we want Nigerians and the whole world to know that the Federal Government is frustrating the amnesty programme and the militants,’ he stated.
He stated that the police intercepted them at about 4 a.m. and were directed to go back to where they were coming from, saying their number was too much for a protest to Abuja.
Ramsey, who spoke even while they defied the security to leave the highway, maintained, ‘we did not block the road; it was the police that blocked the road and prevented travellers from moving freely on the road. We are not armed; we were going to Abuja to register our grievances.’
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Amanam Abakasaga, who confirmed the incident, said it was the police that intercepted the militants at the Jemeta toll gate.
The commissioner said the militants claimed they were going to Abuja to protest the non-implementation of the amnesty programme, but ‘we had to stop them because of the security implication and their large number,’ adding that he has succeeded in appealing to them to retreat.
The blockage affected travellers coming from eastern and western parts of the country, as well as those leaving the Federal Capital Territory.
The incident, however, attracted brisk business for traders living around the place as a satchet of pure water was sold for between N30 and N50 as against the normal N5 to N10.
Motorcycle operators, popularly known as Okada riders, had a field day, charging between N3000 and N5000 to carry stranded commuters to Lokoja, a journey that ought to have cost less than N100 on a normal day.
The food vendors at under the bridge were not left out of the business boom as they called their colleagues at Kotonkarfe, a neighboring community, to rush to the scene with available foods for sale as the price had tripled.
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