These are certainly not the best of times for Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as more ex-warlords of his Niger Delta region turn their backs on him. The latest to do so is “General” Tamuno George.

Tamuno George is the fourth prominent ex-warlord to publicly upbraid the Jonathan administration over alleged poor performance, particularly its failure to develop the Niger Delta for which youths in the region took arms against the Nigerian state before the declaration of the Presidential Amnesty in 2009.

The Lagos newspaper Saturday Vanguard this morning quoted Tamuno George as saying that Jonathan would soon lose support from the ex-militants and the generality of the Niger Delta people unless urgent steps are taken to address physical infrastructure development in the region.

According to him, “On paper, there is a lot but on ground, there is nothing happening. For instance the East – West Road has been there for many years without appreciable progress.”

Continuing, he said: “If you have followed the Niger Delta struggle, no Niger Delta agitator asked for us to have the president. What they asked for was meaningful development, infrastructure, resource control, self-emancipation of the Niger Delta. Those are the key issues.

“Development means good roads, hospitals and schools. We want to live like people that have contributed to the growth of this economy. Those were the key agitations of the Niger Delta people. But as nature would have it today, we have a president that is from the Niger Delta.”

News Express reports that three other prominent ex-militants had in the past one month publicly expressed displeasure over the stewardship of their kinsman, President Jonathan. The first was Alhaji Mujaheed Dokubo Asari, who has taken Jonathan to the cleaners in several interviews since last December 23.

Just two days ago, Comrade Ateke Tom and Ebikabowei Victor Ben, (aka Boyloaf) issued a three-page statement entitled “State of the Nation as it affects the Niger Delta” in which they warned Jonathan that “he might be headed for a dooms day” if he does not do the right thing now.

•Photo: Jonathan is coming under increasing pressure from his radical kinsmen to step up his game.

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