Former militant commanders and ex-members of the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to increase the pace of his government.
The former creek warlords rose from their meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, over the weekend and declared that Buhari should speed up and formulate policies to tackle rising security and economic challenges in the country.
The ex-militant leaders who met under the auspices of Leadership ,Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI) deliberated on issues bordering on new wave of Boko Haram onslaughts, the economy and unpaid amnesty allowances.
In a communique issued by the former militants and signed by the President, LPCDI, Mr. Reuben Clifford, they condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Plateau, Kano, Kaduna and Maiduguri, which claimed the lives of over hundred people.
They urged Buhari to rethink his earlier decision of dismantling military checkpoints in volatile parts of northern Nigeria.
They said: “We are dismayed by the slow pace of this present administration of tackling the economy challenges by not constituting a formidable team made up of technocrats to run the affairs of the nation. The president’s slow attitude is making mockery of the ‘change’ slogan he and his party canvassed for during electioneering .
“On each day we are inundated with calls home and abroad of our members who are amnesty beneficiaries passing through various harrowing experiencing at schools.
“While some at Igbinedion University are on verge of being barred from writing their final year examinations since they could not pay their fees, others in Jordan schooling have been totally evicted from their homes and now leaving on handouts from friends”.
While commending the President for his recent bailout to distressed states, they asked him to extend similar gesture to stranded persons undergoing training at home and abroad under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).
They appealed to Buhari to give directives to someone to sign for the disbursement of funds at the Amnesty Office claiming that about N5bn was left in the office by the former Coordinator of PAP, Mr. Kingsley Kuku.
“If nothing is done soonest, it could snowball into a full scale crises. The President should save us from this excruciating agony .
“We want the present administration to wield its might by keeping to its word that ‘Boko Haram will soon know the collective will our are power’. The government should engage various stakeholders to put an end to this callous, ruthless and senseless killings of innocent soul”
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