Hundreds of ex-militants yesterday staged a mass protest in Benin City, Edo State capital over alleged non-payment of their outstanding salaries.
The ex-militants under the phase two of the amnesty program had stormed the premises of the State Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) with placards bearing inscriptions such as 'Justice must prevail; We need our money; No Payment; We Need Our Money; Amnesty 11,We Need Our Money.
The ex-militants who claimed to be representing over 6,166 members, also traced their plight of the second phase amnesty programme adding that soon after the Obubra camp in Calabar, they were made to open individual account, alleging that until when they were taken to Lagos for a non-violence training programme, no money was credited to the accounts
They equally fingered the office of the amnesty programme for fraudulently usurping their accounts asking that "the question is where the salary of March 2011 to December 2011 is?
The irate ex-militants, who said they had channeled their grievances to the appropriate quarters, noted that they were obstructed on one occasion while on their way to Abuja, to cry out, precisely in Okene by those who are currently responsible for their predicament.
They also threatened to go back to the creek should the federal government refused to address their plight.
Spokesperson for the group, Oniyan Paul, said "we came in for the amnesty programme since 2010, we have not been paid even when we open individual accounts, they are owing us twelve to eighteen months salaries."
The federal government had paid this money to the amnesty offices but they refuse to pay us. They either pay us or we go back to the creeks.
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