by Rachel Ogbu

About 200 former militants in the Bakassi Volunteer Force have donated blood  at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital in Cross River State.

On Thursday, the ex-militants from their Obutong Estate camp in Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State arrived at about 11am in two luxurious buses.

Leader of the BVF, General Bofa Olorogun, said the motive behind it was to contribute in their own way to saving lives especially with the current security challenges in the country.

Olorogun said, “We strongly oppose any act of sabotage of the peaceful co-existence of the people of this great nation. Even though these terrorists are callously taking the lives of innocent Nigerians; we, as ex-militants, want to give hope by donating blood to save lives of the poor, helpless and needy in our society.

“We urge the youths to come out in numbers to fight evil for good, corruption for in-corruption, death for life, destruction for development.”

The Punch reports:

The BVF leader, however, said despite voluntarily laying down arms since August 4, 2011, the group which he said was made up of 157 foot soldiers, were yet to be included in the presidential amnesty programme.

He also lamented that militants from Cross River State, which is the host state for the programme, had not been fairly treated in the allocation of slots.

Chief Medical Director of the UCTH, Dr. Thomas Agan, said the gesture would go a long way to alleviate the plights of the needy, adding that no fewer than 150 bags of blood was expected to be got from the former fighters.