Lufthansa dismisses 13 ex-militants from pilot training programme

Angry mothers of the beneficiaries of the amnesty programme, laid siege on the office of the body co-ordinating the ex-militant leaders, Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI).

They were protesting about the dismissal of their children from various training programmes and facilities all over the world.

The women say President Buhari should be held responsible if their children go back to the creeks to take up arms.

This is coming on the heels of the dismissal of 13 ex-militant pilot trainees, by Lufthansa, over un-paid fees.

A spokesman of the ex-militant leaders, Pastor Rueben Wilson called for calm, saying “The peace we are enjoying in the Niger Delta area today is because of the Amnesty Program initiated by your predecessor, President Umaru Yar’adua, because he had the interest of the Niger Delta people at heart. You will also recall that as a result of the Amnesty Offer the country went from producing 900 barrels to over 2million barrels of crude oil per day. The parents who are infuriated at the attitude of President Buhari administration of more than one months of assuming power wonder if his words at the inaugural speech of strengthening the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) is just lip service and deceit.”

Wilson added that “Mr President should not lose sight of the issue that brought about the Amnesty Programme. save it from total collapse. Mr. President, we use this medium to remind you and the good people of Nigeria of the promises to the people of Niger Delta about positive changes. Nigerians have since voted you into power because they need change; but from what we have seen so far we have reasons to doubt how soon, if at all, the change will come.”

The amnesty programme was initiated by Late President Umaru Yar'adua as a way of reducing youth restiveness in the Niger-Delta.