Ondo ex-militants insist on Jonathan’s victory for peace in Nigeria

EX-militants in the western flank of the Niger Delta region comprising Ondo, Edo and parts of Delta states have thrown their weight behind the second term re-election of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the president of Nigeria in the February 14 poll with a threat that if the outcome of the exercise is not favourable, they might “once again decide to take up arms against the Nigerian nation.”

  The demobilized militants who surrendered their arms at the commencement of the Federal Government’s Amnesty Programme and had since been enlisted as beneficiaries of monthly allowance from government purse, said after a meeting at Agadagba-Obon in the Ijaw-speaking riverrine Ese-Odo local council of Ondo State, during the weekend, that they would vehemently resist what they called “national conspiracy against Jonathan.”

  At the meeting convened by Bibopere Ajube, a.k.a General Shoot-At-Sight, who controlled the Ondo/Edo axis during the armed militancy period and who operated from a fearsome camp in the creeks of Arogbo, the militants urged the rest of Nigeria to allow Jonathan complete a two-term tenure “for the same of equity, fairness and justice.”

   The mainly youths ex-militants and their former commanders also condemned the call by former Defence Minister General Yakubu Danjuma for the arrest of those threatening the continued existence and unity of Nigeria if the president is not reelected saying “those who made their   billions from our resources should learn to respect us as a people.”

    According to Ajube who presently operates a government-approved security outfit to protect pipelines and other oil facilities in the area, “the vogue all over the world is that old leaders are staying in the background to allow the younger generation to take over.

       “Nigeria cannot afford to go against this global trend therefore we must continue with the youthful regime of Jonathan. We assure our northern counterparts that we are going to support them in 2019 when they present a younger candidate for the position of the president.

    “We were forced to take up arms against Nigeria because our demands for water, roads, light, healthcare and human empowerment which are actually peanuts considering what our communities contribute to the national economy, were not being met.