‘Vandals, soldiers offer fake amnesty in Arepo creek’

Blessing Ireghe was told that the Lagos State Government was giving amnesty to the militants, who surrender their weapons in the state. Ireghe came to Lagos for the amnesty scheme. He did not know he was about to be duped. He is now in the Police custody

Blessing

Determined to check the escalating crime of piracy, bombing and kidnapping, in the Niger Delta region, the then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration gave presidential amnesty to militants.
Militants led their groups to surrender weapons.
Over 30,000 purported members signed up. The amnesty was to reintegrate them into productive society, primarily by placing and sponsoring them in vocational and higher education courses in Nigeria and abroad.
So many of the militants were opportune to travel overseas and others were placed on monthly stipends. Today, some vandals and group of soldiers, at Arepo area of Ogun State, have started using the amnesty scheme to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians. Blessing Ireghe, 31, father of five, appeared to be one of those that had been duped. He, however, refused to believe that this supposed amnesty scheme was a scam, orchestrated to defraud people.
According to him, he was alerted by a friend that Lagos State Government was giving militants amnesty. It was another opportunity to sign and travel overseas. It was also another opportunity to be placed on a monthly salary without working for the money.
When Ireghe’s friend, Tosan, told him about the amnesty scheme, he dashed to Lagos and from there, made a beeline for Arepo in Ogun State. Ireghe said that although he wasn’t a militant and hadn’t any weapon to surrender, he was sure Tosan would help push for his name to be penciled down. According to him, when he got to Arepo creek, he saw over 100 people, already on a queue, signing up for the amnesty programme.
They were all armed with N3000 and two passports. He said that two soldiers and Tosan were attending to those who wanted to be beneficiaries of the scheme. He revealed that he stayed three days with Tosan, in a shanty, around the creek.
It was during his stay that he realised Tosan was into oil bunkering. His words: “Whenever it was evening, Tosan would leave with gallons of fuel. He would be escorted by two soldiers. One of the soldiers is called Alex. They would move out the gallons of fuel to sell. I didn’t know Tosan was into oil bunkering until I came to sign for the amnesty programme.”
Ireghe, who described himself as a professional boat rider, was one of the suspects recently arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for robbery. An AK47 rifle and ammunition were allegedly recovered from him. He, however, vehemently denied being a robber. He said he came to Lagos, to sign up for the Lagos State Amnesty programme when he was arrested and labelled a robber. He said: “A friend of mine, Tosan, called me that the government was giving militants in Lagos amnesty.
He said that I should come down quickly to Lagos. He said that I should come with N3000 and two passports. I did.” He explained that three days after his sojourn at Arepo creek, he decided to head back to Ondo State, where he resides.
He was on his way when he was shot and arrested by some military personnel. He believed he was set up by Tosan’s girlfriend. Speaking on the arrest of the suspect, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said that Ireghe was arrested by personnel of Nigerian Navy, Harbour Road, Apapa and handed over to the police. Owoseni said: “One AK47 rifle and 60 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition were recovered from him.”
Ireghe further said: “When Tosan called me; I rushed down to Lagos. I stayed three days with him. When I was leaving, he told his girl-friend to escort me. The lady was going to buy something. Along the way, I told her that I was pressed. I told her that I wanted to defecate.
She stopped along the way for me. “After I finished, I was about coming out when I saw naval men and soldiers running towards me. They said I shouldn’t run; that if I run, they would shoot me. I asked them what my offence was.
I told them that I hadn’t committed any crime. As I was about to run, they shot me on the hand.” Ireghe said that after they shot him, they took him to hospital and told him that Tosan’s girlfriend, told them that he was a friend to her boyfriend, who was into oil bunkering. He further alleged that the lady brought a rifle and some ammunition and told the law enforcement men that the arms  belonged to him.
He said: “It was Tosan’s girlfriend who told the security agents where to get the arms. These weapons don’t belong to me. The soldiers and naval men didn’t find anything on me.”
Explaining further about the amnesty scam, Ireghe said: “I wasn’t the only one that came for the amnesty programme. They told us that Lagos State Government would start paying money to people immediately the amnesty takes off. We were asked to drop our names. They said when the amnesty was ready, they would call us. They said government wanted us to drop guns. But I don’t carry gun.
We all gathered at Arepo. “When I got to Tosan’s place, I discovered he was into oil bunkering. He was with two soldiers. They were doing the work together. One of the soldiers is called Alex. Alex is the owner of the AK47 rifle, which they claimed belonged to me. I stayed there for three days and noticed that the soldiers used to escort Tosan and others to go and sell the fuel at black market.”https://newtelegraphonline.com/vandals-soldiers-offer-fake-amnesty-arepo-creek/