Nigeria: Ex-Militants Leaders Threaten Justice Ministry Officials Over Alleged Sabotage of Amnesty Office

15 August 2022

Angry former militant leaders and ex-warlords from the nine states of the Niger Delta, have warned some officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice to stop sabotaging the Presidential Amnesty Office over the probe of the looted N60 billion Amnesty Training Centre in Bayelsa State.

The ex-militant leaders also threatened that if the alleged sabotage of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, from filling proper defence against the N3.8 billion suit plus damages filed by the accused 15 companies involved in the 2019 looting of amnesty training centre, was not stopped, they would declare them "persona non grata across the nine states in Niger Delta and order citizen arrest in the region."

The ex-militant leaders, under the aegis of the Reintegrated Ex-Militants Forum, REF, in a statement by its National Coordinator, former 'General' Tony Ebikalaide, claimed that alerts had been issued to all militant camps to be on the lookout across the entire Niger Delta to ensure a citizen's arrest of officials in the ministry fingered in the alleged plot to sabotage the PAP case for their personal benefits.

The group said: "Instead of the officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice to support the legal representation made by the Amnesty Office legal team against the suits filed by the accused companies in the tune of N3.8 billion, plus 21 percent post judgment fees, and special damages, which can go as high as N5 billion to N8 billion, they are busy sabotaging the Amnesty Office's efforts in court by removing PAP legal adviser and other experienced legal officers from the amnesty office to stop the amnesty office from putting in proper representation in court.

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