Ex-militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (Phase 2) have lamented the alleged non-payment of their monthly stipends of N65,000 for over one year.
They claimed that all efforts to receive their monthly stipends from the Milland Dixon Dikio-led PAP had not yielded any positive results.
They accused Dikio, who is also the Special Adviser to the President on PAP of being allegedly responsible for the rising wave of crude oil bunkering activities in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved 1,166 ex-militants from Bayelsa State, Chairman, Phase 2, ‘General’ John Esuku, claimed that the refusal of the Amnesty Office to pay over 6,000 ex-agitators their N65, 000 monthly stipends for the past one year had driven a lot of jobless youths in the region to return to the creeks to resume artisanal crude refining.
Esuku explained that despite several letters sent to the Amnesty Office for a meeting to resolve the issues surrounding the non-payment of stipends to the PAP beneficiaries, the Federal Government had gone ahead to pay billions of naira for pipeline surveillance contract.
He further said that after an enlarged meeting, they had resolved to give the Amnesty boss an ultimatum of 14 days to honour their invitation to a meeting to resolve the issues affecting their stipends or they would take to the streets of Abuja to protest after the expiration of the ultimatum.
