Niger Delta militant leaders resort back to humble lifestyles after Buhari ends their cashflow

FORMER Niger Delta militant leaders have begun toning down their millionaire lifestyles over recent weeks amid signs that the large sums of cash they were receiving during the regime of former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan has now dried up.

 

Wooed by Dr Jonathan as part of his amnesty programme, militant leaders were offered monthly payments to keep their boys from taking up arms. Several of them were also given multi-million pipeline protection contracts, while the luckiest of them Government Ekpomupolo alias Tompolo was also given a coastal surveillance contract said to be worth $103m (N21bn).

 

Since assuming office, however, President Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled all these contracts and refused to make any more payments to the militant leaders. Although the government has pledged to keep the amnesty programme in place, President Buhari has refused to honour the multi-million dollar contracts Dr Jonathan signed and has given the tasks back to the security forces.

 

With the loss of the vast sums they were accustomed to, these militant leaders are no longer flying around in private jets and chartered flights as they used to. Theirs was more a replica of the new kids on the block who came into sudden wealth and decided to flaunt it with careless abandon.

 

A drive to the home of a typical ex-militant leader would reveal the presence of scores of armed mobile policemen as security aides, escort vehicles and exotic cars in abundance. One was also bound to meet a lot of their boys hanging around their bosses and enjoying choice drinks while elderly people in need of one favour of the other thronged their homes.

 

Now, however, they have returned to the pre-Jonathan era when they had nothing except their monthly allowances from the Presidential Amnesty Office. Apart from Tompolo, some of those affected by the radical change include Dr Ebikabowei Victor-Ben, also known as BoyLoaf; Pastor Reuben Wilson, known as Pastor Reuben; Comrade Eris Paul, known as General Ogunboss and Africa Ukparisia, known as General Africa.