News Investigators/ No fewer than 200 ex-agitators of the Bakassi Defence Force, have been profiled to be trained in integrated agricultural value-chain in Nassarawa, Cross River government has said.
Okoi Obono, Senior State Security Adviser to Gov. Bassey Otu of Cross River, made the remark while speaking to journalists before the departure of the ex-militants on Monday in Calabar.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ex-militants are going to Nasarawa to be taken into CSS Global Farms where they would learn innovative agricultural practices.
Rtd Maj.-Gen. Obono explained that the 200 were those that responded to the ‘’olive branch’’ extended by the governor and decided to drop their arms.
He commended the courage of the ex-agitators who, he said, had been in the Bakassi creeks for long time to come out.
The security adviser said that the governor’s ultimatum to militants to drop their weapons was due to the state’s zero tolerance for crime.
According to him “we have two sets of training for them, the first is to change their mindset because they have been in a very hostile environment for a very long time.
Rtd Maj.-Gen. Obono said that the second was the empowerment training in Nasarawa for them to be self-reliant as it was necessary in order for them not go back to their old ways.
“The creeks have been a problem for us, we are just trying to stabilise; so getting this number of people from those areas is good as the state will have some level of respite,” he noted.
He encouraged the beneficiaries to stay and learn in Nassarawa to make their lives better, and urged others yet to drop their arms to emulate the group for their own good and that of the state.
Similarly, Patrick Egbede, the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, said that the ex-agitators would be in Nassarawa for two weeks, all expenses paid by the government of Cross River.
Mr Egbede said the state was in partnership with CSS Global Farms to ensure that the ex-militants were of good behaviour during the training.
He, however, urged the beneficiaries to comport themselves during the training in order to make the governor empower them beyond their expectations as well as others who are ready to drop their arms.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr Obong-Ete Ini-Okon, said that he was appreciative of the training, noting that they decided to come out because of the magnanimity of the governor.
“Our struggle was not to destroy Cross River or Nigeria but to create the awareness that we were abandoned when Bakassi, our home, was ceded to Cameroon.
“We were not the ones responsible for kidnappings in the state and along the waterways.
“So, I use this opportunity to call on any confraternity in possession of illegal arms and promoting kidnapping to surrender and get a better life,” he said.
Ini-Okon added that being in the creeks was not easy because many of their colleagues had lost their lives.
NAN
