NIGERIA: Hundreds of ex-militants riot again over cash payments promised by government

Record ID: 234842

  • Title: NIGERIA: Hundreds of ex-militants riot again over cash payments promised by government
  • Date: 30th September 2009
  • Summary: YENAGOA, NIGERIA ( SEPTEMBER 25, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FORMER MILITANTS RIOTING ON THE STREETS FIRE BURNING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET FORMER MILITANTS RIDING IN MINI-BUSES (SOUNDBITE) (English) LANCA GABON, A FORMER MILITANT, SAYING "Our amnesty money has now come to be politics, we are not politicians, we are freedom fighting, we are fighting for you." FORMER MILITANTS CHANTING POLICE ARRESTING ONE OF THE FORMER MILITANTS YENAGOA, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 27, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEN, FORMER MILITANT LEADER, SAYING "We had about 80 percent of the people in the Niger Delta, out of the 100 percent, 80 percent have come out of the creeks." YENAGOA, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 25, 2009) (REUTERS) FIRE BURNING IN THE STREETS YENAGOA, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 27, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEN, FORMER MILITANT LEADER, SAYING "Ateke, Tompolo and Farah will use their own sense and disarm." YENAGOA, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 25, 2009) (REUTERS) FORMER MILITANTS BLOCKADING STREETS MILITANT CARRYING PLACARD PROTESTERS IN THE STREETS
  • Embargoed: 15th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF556ZBYDA5FGXRNHVJDA6ALQG
  • Story Text: STORY. Hundreds of Nigeria's former militants in the Niger Delta protested on Friday (September 25) over delayed cash payments promised to them by the government but one their leaders insisted the amnesty process was succeeding.
    The militants blockaded streets with bonfires and debris demanding immediate cash payments. They said that they had handed in their guns in good faith but government was failing to keep to its promise of paying them for their daily up keep expenses.
    "Our amnesty money has now come to be politics, we are not politicians, we are freedom fighting, we are fighting for you," said Lanca Gabon.
    But as Gabon and his colleagues ran riot in the streets, one of the former militants leader said that more than 80 percent of rebels who have disrupted oil operations in Nigeria's Niger Delta have accepted an amnesty and hardliners will probably do so too.
    "We had about 80 percent of the people in the Niger Delta, out of the 100 percent, 80 percent have come out of the creeks," said former militant leader Ebikabowei Victor Ben, also known as Commander Boyloaf.
    "Ateke, Tompolo and Farah will use their own sense and disarm," Ben said.
    President Umaru Yar'Adua in June offered an unconditional pardon to all gunmen in the Niger Delta to stem unrest which has prevented Nigeria from pumping much above two thirds of its oil capacity, costing it billions of dollars a year in lost revenue.
    So far the number of rebels giving up their arms has made no noticeable change in oil output.
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