Commander Pere Elako, popularly known as Commander Pere, has accused Ogunbos of misleading the public over the Niger Delta amnesty programme, alleging that more than 150 former members of Ogunbos’ camp have been excluded from payments and stipends for years.

Speaking in a statement concerning a recent video released by Ogunbos on the amnesty issue, Elako said the matter was too serious to be reduced to political or public-relations statements, insisting that those affected deserved transparency and accountability.

“My name is Pere Elako, popularly known as Commander Pere. I am from Ogunbos Camp,” he said. “I am making this statement concerning the video that Ogunbos posted a few days ago regarding the amnesty issue.”

Elako appealed to Ogunbos to be truthful in his public statements, alleging that he had presented an incomplete picture of the situation by focusing on beneficiaries from Sagbama while ignoring other former members of the camp.

“We started Ogunbos’ camp together, and we also ended it together,” Elako said, recalling that the group surrendered its weapons to the Federal Government in 2009 during the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, following the Federal Government’s amnesty programme for militants in the Niger Delta.

According to Elako, the issue extends beyond the people of Sagbama.

“I am asking Ogunbos a direct question: what about the people of Peramabere whom you are not paying?” he asked.

He listed several commanders whom he said were members of Ogunbos’ camp and had allegedly been excluded from payments since 2013. Among them, he named Commander General Etorboimi Gobo, popularly known as Commissioner; Commander Ebiware Maxen; Commander Se Ebrebo; Commander Rachi Dressman; and Commander Erena Adika.

“There are other commanders still there as well,” Elako said. “I am talking about commanders and people from Peremabiri his own community from Ogunbos’ camp whom he has not paid from 2013 to date. He speaks only of Sagbama and ignores the rest.”

Elako further claimed that the original camp master list contained 259 people and alleged that Ogunbos was not paying more than 100 of those listed.

“In Ogunbos’ original camp master list, which I have in my possession, there are 259 persons,” he said. “In Peramabere alone, there are many people he is currently not paying.”

He challenged Ogunbos to publicly demonstrate otherwise if the number of unpaid beneficiaries was inaccurate.

“If he is indeed paying more than 100 people, let him come forward and prove it,” Elako said.

Responding to Ogunbos’ reported assertion that he was not a staff member of the amnesty office but merely a beneficiary, Elako said that distinction did not resolve the central issue.

“Fine, we will not argue about that,” he said. “But let me make this clear to the public: everything Ogunbos is saying is a complete lie. He knows very well what he is doing. Let him come out and tell the public the truth instead of feeding them falsehoods.”

Elako said several letters had been written to the amnesty office in an effort to resolve the dispute and restore the affected beneficiaries’ payments, but he claimed those efforts had produced no satisfactory result.

He stressed, however, that the group had deliberately avoided taking the law into its own hands.

“We cannot take the law into our own hands because we are law-abiding citizens,” he said.

According to Elako, the group subsequently decided to seek judicial intervention. He said 79 people, including himself, took the matter to court in an effort to have their grievances addressed.

“We wanted the court to hear our case, but to this day, the court has not heard our matter,” he said.

Elako rejected any suggestion that the group had lost the case, arguing that the matter was never properly heard on its substantive claims.

“They relied on legal jargon and said we were pardoned by the Federal Government and that was the end, while someone else was eating our money,” he alleged. “It is not that we lost the case; we never lost. We are still fighting for our money to ensure that everything Ogunbos has taken from us over all these years is returned.”

To underline his determination, Elako invoked the biblical account of Moses and Pharaoh, saying the group would not abandon what it believes it is entitled to receive.

“When Moses was about to leave with his people, Pharaoh told Moses to leave because the pressure was too strong for Pharaoh to withstand. Pharaoh said, ‘Take your people and go, but leave your goods behind,’” Elako said.

“Moses told Pharaoh categorically that nothing would be left behind and that he was leaving with everything. Similarly, we will recover everything. Not a single cent of our money will be missed.”

Elako said the affected beneficiaries continued to keep records of what they believed they were owed, with the amount accumulating as the years passed.

“We are counting, and as the years go by, we keep counting and waiting to receive our money,” he said. “This is the reality of what is happening in Ogunbos’ camp: he is not paying his people. He should not come out to lie to or deceive the public. This is not a matter for sweet talk; we are talking about people’s livelihoods.”

The commander also recounted several trips to Abuja, where he said he personally visited the main amnesty office to investigate his status.

“I was taken into their computer room, where they asked for my identification cards—the Bush and the Timi Alaibe ID cards,” he said.

Elako said he presented the documents, but alleged that officials who checked the system told him that his name had been removed from the payroll.

“When they checked the system, the officers informed me that our names had been removed from the payroll,” he said. “My name was missing, and the same was confirmed for the second ID card I provided.”

He challenged Ogunbos to explain how the names were allegedly removed and where the money allocated to the affected beneficiaries went.

“So let him explain who removed my name from the amnesty office payroll, or let him explain it to the court. Where is the money going to?” Elako asked.

Elako also welcomed Ogunbos’ reported comments about taking people to court, saying his group had themselves been seeking an opportunity for their complaints to be fully heard.

“We were begging the court to hear our complaints, but the court did not hear us out; they simply issued a ruling, and the process stalled there,” he said.

He acknowledged that the group had not immediately taken the matter to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court but insisted that the legal battle was not necessarily over.

“Although we could not immediately move the matter to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court, we can still push forward,” he said. “There are many ways to handle this matter, and we are waiting for the right time.”

Elako further disputed any claim that the people he represents were not legitimate beneficiaries of the amnesty programme.

“Now he tells people that we lost our case, but that does not mean we are not legitimate beneficiaries,” he said. “We are the rightful beneficiaries. We have our camp ID cards, our bank account statements, and our training certificates.”

As evidence of his own participation in the programme, Elako said he underwent vocational training as a professional welder in Cape Town, South Africa.

“I went through training as a professional welder in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2011 and returned in 2012,” he said.

He concluded by insisting that the dispute was not limited to ordinary beneficiaries and that even commanders who participated in the programme had allegedly been affected.

“So it is not only the Sagbama people you are not paying,” Elako said. “Even your own commanders and many people from Peremabiri are punished for no reason. You have been eating our money since 2013, and we will take everything back at the right time.”

Elako’s statement amounts to a direct challenge to Ogunbos’ account of the amnesty dispute, with the commander calling for the records, payroll status and alleged unpaid benefits of former members of the camp to be subjected to scrutiny.