ALONG row of vehicles, anxious passengers and angry youths: it was bedlam yesterday on the Lokoja –Abuja road.
Some youths, who described themselves as former Niger Delta militants, in luxury buses heading for Abuja were stopped by the police who barred them from going on with their trip “for security reasons”. The scene was the Jameta Toll Grate, a few minutes away from Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The youths insisted on going ahead, their vehicles blocking the ever-busy road and causing a long traffic jam that kept many motorists stranded for more than eight hours. Many passed the night in the road.
They said they were on their way to Abuja to protest their exclusion from the Federal Government’s amnesty programme.
The youths issued a four-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to implement the “amnesty agreement” or face their return to the creeks.
There were no fewer than 1,600 of them in about 300 vehicles, including luxury buses, mini-buses and cars.
Commissioner of Police Amana Abakasaga 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, which may result to breach of security.”
Abakasanga, in a telephone interview, added that the former militants were not violent.
The leader of the group, who identified himself as General Ramsey, said they were on their way to Abuja to meet with the President to register their displeasure on their exclusion from the amnesty.
He said: “The government asked us to come out of the creeks and lay down our arms, which we did, but since then the government has refused to fulfill its own side of the agreement. Instead, officials keep making empty promises. We have embraced the amnesty programme, but 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 militants en-route to Abuja are all generals whose foot soldiers laid down their arms. Now, the foot soldiers are tired of excuses we are giving them. They are already suspecting we have collected the money from the government and only come back to deceive them.”
Ramsey lamented that the ex-militants, having graduated from the rehabilitation training since December, last year, they were neither paid nor settled. They keep telling us ‘came back tomorrow’, he said.
“Now, we are giving four days ultimatum to the Federal Government to fulfill its side of the bargain. Our boys are angry and they want to go back to the creeks and we are tired of holding them back. So, we want Nigerians and the world to know that the Federal Government is frustrating the amnesty programme and the militants,” he added.
Ramsey said the police intercepted them at about 4a.m., asking them to go back to where they were coming from.
“They said that our convoy was too large to go to Abuja for any protest. So, we stayed with the police while the traffic continued to build up.
“We did not block the road; it was the police that blocked the road. We are not armed; we were going to Abuja to register our grievance.”
There was a massive traffic gridlock on the Lokoja-Abuja Highway for over eight hours before a combined team of the Army and the police cleared the obstruction.
Motorists spoke of their harrowing experiences, after passing the night on the road.
Mr. Andrew Amechi, who was travelling from Enugu to Abuja with his family, said: “The Federal Government should have settled with these boys since they have repented from militancy.
“If they knew they couldn’t handle the amnesty, why did they go into it. We slept here in the bush because of the traffic jam. My family are hungry because there is no food to eat around here. We are stranded.”
See the article here:
Chaos on Abuja-Lokoja road