Emma Amaize
06 February 2012, Sweetcrude, WARRI – EX-MILITANTS undergoing training under the Federal Government Amnesty Programme, Monday, bombed a hotel, Lawconfab Hotel, Osubi in Okpe local government area of Delta State, which served as their temporal home since last year.
The ex-militants alleged that the consultant was colluding with the management of the hotel to deprive them of their entitlements and shelled the hotel with dynamites.
The hotel management and a source close to the consultant, Generic College, however, described the allegation as unfounded.
It was gathered that the ex-militants were not interested in staying in the hotel or undergoing any training and what they simply wanted was for the consultant to give them money meant for their hotel accommodation and other allowances.
It was gathered that for some months running, it had been a running battle between the consultant and the recalcitrant ex-militants.
When Vanguard visited the hotel, it was discovered that a section of the two-storey building collapsed as a result of the bombing. Several rooms were affected and the debris of the shattered blocks, doors and roof were all over the place.
Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Mamman Tsafe, Director of SSS in the state, Area Commanders of Police in Ughelli and Warri visited the scene of the incident yesterday.
The Joint Task Force on the Niger –Delta, Anti-Terrorism Squad and Anti-Bomb Squad were said to have made some arrest as the time of our visit but the details were not available.
An official of the hotel who spoke to Vanguard said he got a report at about 4.00 am on Monday that the hotel was collapsing and rushed down to the hotel, only to find the ex-militants in a “war” mood.
He said the former agitators claimed that a director of the hotel connived with their consultant to divert money meant for them and that they told him (consultant) that they did not want to stay in the hotel any more, but he snubbed them and paid six months upfront.
The source said, “Contrary to the claim of the ex-militants, the consultant owes the hotel over N11 million, which he had promised to pay, but has not fulfilled”.
“We are providing services to the ex-militants thinking that we are assisting them and that government will pay us our money later, look at the damage they have caused us”, he added.
Some of the ex-militants were seen in groups around the hotel when Vanguard visited yesterday, maintaining that they had told the consultant to remove them from the hotel, but he refused to heed their advice.
