Hundreds of angry women from the nine states of the Niger Delta region have warned President Muhammadu Buhari, following the dismissal of 13 ex-militant youths trained as pilots by the Lufthansa Airline Training School in Frankfurt, Germany.
Other ex-militant youths from the region have also been sent packing by their various institutions in South Africa, Russia, Germany, Ukraine and other countries in Europe, Leadership reports.
The ex-militants had been sent away from the institution due to the refusal of the federal government to pay the Amnesty Training Fees and scholarship grants.
The women, who staged a protest march on Tuesday, July 21, to the office of the ex-militant leaders known as the Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI), said Buhari should be held responsible if there is resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta region.
The protesting women said: “We are warning Buhari that as mothers, we are already feeling the heat and the gathering of disgruntled youths in our communities. The refusal to pay the Amnesty training fees is causing problems in our homes and communities.”
Addressing the protesting women, the president LPCDI, Pastor Reuben Wilson, called for calm.He urged the president not to starve the Presidential Amnesty Programme of funds.
“Mr President should not to lose sight of the issue that brought about the PAP and save it from total collapse. Mr. President, we use this medium to remind you and the good people of Nigeria of promises to the people of Niger Delta about positive changes. Nigerians have since voted you into power because they need change but from what we have seen so far, we have reasons to doubt how soon, if at all, the change will come,” Wilson said.
The ex-militants, who study abroad under the scholarship programme of the federal government amnesty initiative, had earlier lamented their unpaid allowances and called on the government to address the problem.
In a letter sent to the president on July 9, ex-militant leaders from the nine states of the Niger Delta region, had alerted him of issues in the region, particularly the amnesty deal. They alleged that some aggrieved youths are threatening the existing peace accord.
