ExpdonaLoaded.blogspot.com (+2348097205188): Expdonaloaded News; N’Delta govs beg Tompolo to shelve ex- militants’ meeting

Saturday, 25 July 2015

Expdonaloaded News; N’Delta govs beg Tompolo to shelve ex- militants’ meeting

Governors of the Niger Delta region are mounting pressure on Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo and other ex-leaders and commanders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to shelve their meeting scheduled for today in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The plea for the meeting to be put on hold is connected to the security concerns the call for the meeting has generated amidst anxiety that it could be hijacked to make provocative statements against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and trigger another round of militancy in the region.

The convener of the meeting, Tompolo who has taken time to explain the motive of the meeting to the governors and some concerned elders of the region that have been calling him has however insisted that the meeting would go ahead and assured all concerned leaders of the region that there is no cause for alarm.
In a statement he personally signed, he declared that the meeting is not intended to resuscitate militancy in the region or to destabilize the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him the rising tension being created over the delay in the payment of stipends to beneficiaries of the Federal Government Amnesty programme necessitated the need to meet and discuss the way forward for the youths of the region.
While noting that ex-militant leaders had declared support for the Buhari government having also supported the late Yar’ Adua government and Jonathan government he expressed surprise that a meeting of ex-militant leaders could cause anxiety.
Tompolo disclosed that he and other ex-militant leaders have been under intense pressure from ex-militants in the region over the delay in the payment of allowances of the amnesty programme and they needed to do something to douse the tension.
The statement read in part “To this extent, some of us, particularly me and other leaders have been under intense pressure from ex-agitators commanders, individuals, parents and guardians as well as communities who are beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme. While a few see the delay in the payment of their monthly stipends in the light of the need for the current government to settle in properly, others see the delay as a template to stop the programme. The expulsion of some students (home and overseas) by their schools and training institutions particularly has heightened these fears. Hence, I thought it wise that a meeting of the collegiate leadership of the platform under which we operated as agitators could be convened to appraise the situation and possibly, explore means to douse the tension that is growing among the disarmed youths whose stipends (training allowances and tuition fees) have been delayed for months.
This becomes more compelling in view of the fact that as leaders of the platform that served as midwife to the Amnesty offer, we owe the nation a duty to play our roles in order to stem a relapse of the relative peace in the Niger Delta Region”