A youth leader who was arrested recently for demanding employment for the majority of young people in Buma has been conditionally released.

Last week, Mathew Gai was thrown in for petitioning NGOs to offer 80 percent of available job opportunities to the natives of Buma.

He, as the chairperson of the Buma Youth Union, wrote five letters, accusing NGOs of discrimination.

Gai was then arrested on the alleged order of the deputy governor. No charges were brought against him.

But the tone of the letters seen by Eye Radio promotes direct threats on the lives of some individuals the youth union said they want out of Buma.

In a letter dated 27 January 2020 addressed to Plan International, the youth union demanded the expulsion of five officers, failure to which “their lives would be at risk.”

According to David Nyro, the secretary of external affairs for Buma State Youth Union, the state government released Gai but banned him from participating in any youth activity.

“He was released with the condition that he should not carry out any activities of the union in the state,” said Nyro, who initially told Eye Radio that the letter was polite.

He added that their demand for 80 percent job allocation for the youths in Buma still stands.

“Though my chairman was arrested and released and given suspension letter, we are not going to stop asking for our rights,” he Nyro stated.

“We are still going to demand the NGOs to implement our rights otherwise we will not accept any kind of threat from the government because when the government is threatening us, it means that they are standing with the NGOs who are even not doing the right thing to the community.”

Similar demands led to destruction of property in the recent past, particularly in Maban area.