Ex-militants from the coastal area of Ondo state, on Wednesday, threatened showdown with the state government over its inability to fulfil after laying down their arms and ammunition.

The aggrieved militants who alleged the state government of scam and playing politics with the amnesty programme threatened to return to the creek if the state government failed to fulfil its promise within 21 days.

Speaking on behalf of the all disarmed youths of Ilaje and Ese-Odo Local Government Areas of the State, in a press statement issued and signed by the Coordinator, General Ogailo Ibory, called on the state government to return all the arms submitted by the militants or forget election in the riverine area of the state.

Ibory said the call became imperative after the state government decided not to fulfil its promise and abandoned them without communicating with the group again.

He said in the statement “We are issuing this press statement because we are tired of the unfulfilled promises of the Ondo State Government that collected our guns since last year without any effort to make us benefit from the Amnesty programme of the Federal government.

“We heeded to the appeal of the Ondo State Government through the Deputy Governor, Hon Agboola Ajayi and the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Donald Ojogo who came to the creeks to carry the Six Epe students we kidnapped in protest.

“The two of them promised to work out Amnesty for us and we thereafter agreed to drop our guns. Up till now, we have been abandoned and no one is talking to us, they have used us and dumped in the creeks and since last year, Amnesty is not coming.”

The aggrieved militants, however, said nothing was done by the government representatives or the state government, threatening showdown with the state government.

Reacting to the threat from the aggrieved militants, the Commissioner for Housing in the state, Donald Ojogo, appealed to the ex-militants to continue to bear with the state government.

•Excerpted from a Tribune report

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