The last might have not been heard about the recent protest of over 20,000 ex-militant groups in Abuja , as the leadership of the Niger Delta Vigilante Force yesterday called for their arrests, submitting that they should be tried for various cases of impersonation discovered during the verification exercise.

Warning the Federal Government against conceding to their demands, the NDVF said such acceptance would promote criminality and destroy the amnesty programme in the region.

In a statement made available to newsmen and signed by NDVF spokesperson, Comrade Kaikoro Dimo, the group said those involved in the protest are not ex-militants and should be arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing of police officers in the region and presentation of the deceased officers’ rifles as their weapons.

The statement read in part, “the protest staged in Abuja by the self-acclaimed ex-militants youths should be regarded as a crime against the agreed terms and condition for the submission of arms, as such if the Federal Government accepts to register them, they have decided to instigate more criminals to search for guns and present to the committee as a condition for registration.”Dimo noted that”there will be trouble in the Niger Delta if these protesting youths are registered.

“Instead of explaining why we were owed one month allowance under the past leadership of the Amnesty Committee, they are busy trying to scatter the process that has been reset after their disgraceful and corrupt tenure. The Federal Government should probe Godwin Abbe’s Committee now.

When we came out as militants, we agreed on a timetable with the Federal Government. People like Tompolo, Boyloaf, Tom Ateke, Fara Dagogo, Ogunboss, Soboma George, Africa , Joshua Machiver and many others embraced the timetable. They made sure they did not come foul of the agreed terms.

I am surprised how the issue has become. “When we came out of the creeks, we were called names and some of us got rejected by our families. We know our boys, Tompolo know his boys and others know theirs too. Tompolo also knows boys in the other camps. But who are these people claiming to be ex-militants and who is their leader? And from which camp are they from? We should all have respect for constituted authority.

If the Federal Government brought out a time-table, they should abide by it. “If they register these people, it simply ,means that the Federal Government has introduced another level of criminality back to the region. Some other persons will now see the killing of police officers or soldiers on the streets of the Niger Delta and stealing of their rifles for presentation to the committee as a rewarding venture. “People will now remember their father’s dane guns and hand them over to the committee for registration.

There will be trouble in the Niger Delta if they register these boys”.

They should be arrested and prosecuted. If they were afraid that the arrest and prosecution will provoke the genuine ex-militant leaders, it will not because they have identified them as criminals out to scuttle the peace process.”