Nigeria: Rivers Ex-Militants Warn Bayelsa to Steer Clear of Amnesty

Daily Independent (Lagos)

23 May 2011

Nigeria: Rivers Ex-Militants Warn Bayelsa to Steer Clear of Amnesty

Port-Harcourt — Ex-militant leaders in Rivers State have called on the Niger Delta states not to use former militant leaders residing in their states to foment fresh crisis by raising unnecessary alarm about the activities of the amnesty committee.

The former freedom fighters said amnesty should not be considered as an affair of a particular state, but should be seen as that of the entire Niger Delta aimed at bringing a lasting peace to the region. In a joint press briefing in Port Harcourt, Rivers capital, on Monday, former 'General' in the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Prince Amaibi Hornbyaka, alias Bustarhymes, warned that the call by one of the ex-militant leaders in Bayelsa State for a probe of the committee "was capable of causing distractions to the committee".

It would be recalled that General Ebikabowei Victor Ben, alias Boyloaf, last week had called on the Federal Government's Economic And Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), to launch a full-scale investigation into the activities of the amnesty committee.

Boyloaf had alleged in an open letter to President Goodluck Jonathan that it was pertinent to investigate the committee under the leadership of Kingsley Kuku over some financial impropriety.