Tribune
17 January 2011
One of them, Beauty Igbite, even has an ambition, she wants to be a mother to Nigeria
She was delivered of a baby boy named Goodluck at the camp.
"I am 28 years and was a cook at the Fara Dagogo camp. I joined about two to three years ago. This year, after getting pregnant I stopped cooking, but I was with them. I 'm not married to the father yet, but he is not an ex-militant.
"I joined militancy because the father of my first son was a militant but he's dead now. His death made me to join them. That was my first pregnancy, since he died, I joined militancy because there was no other way to survive, so I had to join.
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A greater number of them were from Ateke Tom, Young Shall Grow, Pastor, and Tompolo camps. They said they were actively involved in fighting while others were in camp with their husbands and boyfriends for domestic purposes.
They unanimously lauded government for getting them out of the bush and providing opportunities for them to redirect and refocus their lives, but called on the authorities to extend same hand of fellowship to others who are still fighting in the creeks.
This development may have come as surprise to many who think that only men were involved in militancy' activities but startling revelations began to unfold regarding the active involvement of the blind and other physically challenged individuals in the struggle at the creeks. The post amnesty rehabilitation programme which took off at Obubra, in Cross River
About 600 strong female ex-militants drawn from Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers States
Camp co-ordinator, Ekpein Appah, who spoke to our correspondent in Obubra, said the number exceeded the expected 330 but that the camp authorities were able to handle the new challenge.
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