Ex-militants from over hundred communities on Tuesday laid siege at the Edjeba-Warri office of the Heritage Operational Energy Services Limited, threatening to resume hostilities if their demands are not met.
The militants, during the protest, defied the heavy presence of security operatives, blocking entry and exit routes, preventing movement in and out of the premises.
Carrying placards with various inscriptions, they chanted songs of solidarity and prevented vehicular movement.
Chairman of the third phase of the Presidential Amnesty Program, Kingsley Odiri Agas, who spoke on behalf of the protesters claimed that inhuman activities were meted out to the youths by the operators.
He claimed that certain commitments remained unfulfilled to them. They claimed that there was an attempt to use of a non-governmental organisation with an agenda to take over their surveillance jobs.
“We the youths of oml 30, in collaboration with ex-militants phases one to three, have gathered here to protest what we feel will cause trouble in our region here. We have been enjoying relative peace in oml 30.
“This peaceful coexistence has been for some time now. We have not had any problem, there has been peace. If you look well you will see that there has not been any issue of vandalism, but recently there has been this uproar in oml 30 that there’s an NGO that came in that want to take over the leadership of security others from our people.
“According to them they came to ask us to down our tools and work with them so that things will improve, but we said no, that we are already at peace among ourselves, we are satisfied with the peace we are having now. They have gone into my community, met with the ex-militants that are there and tried to incite them so that they will attack us,” he said.
Kingsley Odiri added that the ex-militant leaders have resolved not to allow confusion in the community, hence the reason for the peaceful protest.
“We are capable of protecting our assets that government has put in our area. We don’t want foreigners, we don’t want peaceworks in oml 30. If they refuse to heed to our request, we will destroy those facilities,” he added.
An official of Heritage operational energy services limited spoke with the protesters and promised that their concerns will be looked into.
