Niger Delta Avengers end ceasefire, blow up pipeline
NDA spokesman Mudoch Agbinibo said the group attacked the Bonny pipeline in Rivers State on Friday as. PHOTO: AFP/Getty image
The Niger Delta Avengers on Saturday claimed responsibility for the destruction of a major oil pipeline in the Niger Delta, breaking a ceasefire the militant group had declared a month ago.
In a statement, NDA spokesman Mudoch Agbinibo said the group attacked the Bonny pipeline in Rivers State on Friday as “a wake up call”, expressing frustration with the negotiations the militants have been holding with authorities.
Agbinibo said the NDA was “still in favour of the dialogue” but accused the government of creating “shameful scenes obtainable in Nollywood acts”, a reference to Nigeria’s huge film industry, accusing authorities of intimidation and blackmail.
“There has been no progress and no breakthrough,” he said.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), which operates the pipeline, said the damage was being investigated.
“I can’t categorically tell you if it was an attack,” a company source told AFP, adding that a statement would be issued following an investigation.
The NDA, active in the restive Niger Delta since the start of the year, announced on August 19 that it was laying down its weapons and resuming talks with the government.
Targeting oil giants including Shell, Exxon and Chevron, it had hammered the Nigerian economy with months of attacks on vital oil and gas infrastructure, reducing output by a third at a time when global prices are already punishingly low.
The NDA is seeking a fairer distribution of the oil revenues that make up 70 percent of state’s income and has vowed to fight for development in the Delta where many people remain desperately poor despite the huge wealth of local natural resources.
A week before the ceasefire announcement, the NDA threatened to unilaterally declare independence from Nigeria.
In August the army launched
“Operation Crocodile Smile” in the oil hub of Warri in a bid to re-take control of the region from a proliferation of militant groups.
As well as large-scale sabotage, the army is also battling illegal refinery operations and frequent kidnappings.
Nigerian army spokesman Sani Usman said Saturday that suspected militants on speed boats had launched a deadly attack against troops at Efut Esighi in Cross River State.
“A soldier was killed in action while two soldiers were missing in action,” Usman said, attributing the attack to a group close to the NDA, the Bakassi Strike Force.
Two militants were killed as troops struck back, the army said.
Nigerian oil production has sunk from 2.1 million barrels a day in the first quarter to 1.7 million barrels in the face of repeated militant attacks.
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s cut Nigeria’s credit worthiness last week, saying the drop in production and a restrictive foreign exchange regime were hurting the country’s prospects.
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17 Comments
Here we go again, no victor, no vanquish, we will all suffer the consequences but more so the ND. I think these folks must assume responsibility for the environmental degradation and the health impact on yet unborn generation.
The zoo government is only buying time, it is not interested in genuine negotiations. The only language it understands is force. Negotiating with a camel farmer turned president is a waste of time. Demonstrate your red economy you promised the dullard from Daura. Bomb everything including the hungry zoo soldiers.
Nobody can give what he doesn’t have. Buhari is presiding a country in
which his kinsmen are slaughtering community settlers of other ethnic
extractions with unhindered impunity yet he seizes every opportunity
availed to him at international outing to fool himself as a man
fighting terrorism. Nothing can be more worrisome than hearing that
Fulani Herdsmen are the 4th most lethal terror group in World .The
Daura illiterate lacks peace in his psychic. Extremely blood thirsty!
U definitely are not from the so called Niger delta. When you finish destroying your environment and gas pipelines in the name of punishing Buhari, where will electricity light come from? The answer is- all the dams in Nigeria. Nige state alone has them all. Then you will know that not only Niger delta can hold Nigeria to ransome. Then you will know that the illiterate, cattle rearer from Daura as you fools call Buhari, is more intelligent than you. You want Biafra, you want Niger delta republic? We shall see how you will get it. Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo and the whole of Yoruba land will not join you in your destiny of death. This is not a north/south or Christian/ Moslem issue as characters like you want it to be. That day, we shall all meet at the battle field with guns and bombs as you want it. Nigerians need please and if people like you think after stealing this country dry, you can starve Nigerians to death by creating all these problems in the National Assembly, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta state and want to extend it to Edo state, we shall see. Time will tell
Who in Niger Delta is expecting any help from SW? We have not forgotten what Akintola did to Awo and Shonekan did to Abiola. No one that wants to take his destiny in his hands will rely on a traitor that can even turn against himself. You can be clapping your hands while the same Fulani illiterates are killing farmers and rapping women in your place just because oil wealth is in Niger Delta. No freedom is achievable without cost, we are aware. We either let our resources to feed you all and suffer or suffer to protect them for tomorrow. Your governor is already crying and be informed that Lagos state is already crying for restructuring of Nigerian polity because of oil fortune in the state so keep crying.
Am happy you know there is a price to pay. You were evidently not born during the last civil war-1967-1970. If not, you won’t be beating drums of war on the Internet. The last time we heard boast of ‘ no country in black Africa can defeat Biafra’. Not only was Biafra beaten, it paid the price in illegitimate children, thousands of amputees, deranged individuals as a result of PTSD, unknown number of deaths due to starvation and bullets. Meanwhile, Ojukwu who was boasting ran to Ivory Coast and was magnanimously granted pardon by Shehu Shagari, a Hausa/Fulani that people like you abuse on line. Herdsmen issue is the same as every other security problem in Nigeria today
I don’t know where you read about war on my posting. Is demanding for the right to our resources a call to war? Why will you mean the refusal to feed parasites perpetually and get insulted as a call for war? Restructure Nigeria fir progress and you refer it to a call for war. You are indeed the war agitator
The igbo problem is the result of zero home training (etiquette)
Only your name alone says who you are, you are a Caliphate slave, I pity you, what you are doing now is your last cry for help, Yariba land is a conquered and seized territory by Fulani Caliphate, those state you mentioned have nothing in common with such treacherous and coward tribe of yours. Go and rescue Ilorin in Kwara state first from Alimi and his Fulani descendants, before contemplating battling with Great Biafrans. You moron.
You tribalist. You think name Should matter in Nigeria. I am a proud son of Edoland from Etsako East Local Government and I stand by all what I write. I am not a hack writer. I made bold to tell you to google my name and read who I am.
You are all the same, you are under Islamic subjugation , we have nothing in common with you, face your Fulani slave masters. We are Biafrans with different value system and culture. All Hail Biafra.
Go back to biafra, what are you waiting for?
@Taiwo Umolu,,,I don’t think you are normal.
Your Avengers are normal Abi? You think you are the only people with irredentist inclinations. I am normal because my state does not belong to violent Niger delta.
Buhari will soon realize the limits of his power and the inability of his hunger-stricken soldiers to defeat a defiant and determined Revolutionary Democratic Forces of the Biafran land. Boko Haram is an army of darkness, we represent the army of Righteousness. Nigeria this time around will be forced to bow to its knees.
Good job boys.more oil to your elbows.Criminals.Who will deal with criminals, fools
As soon as the entire oil goes up in flames, Hausas /Fulanis will be forced to focus on their cattle trades, while Yorubas will either rekindle their cocoa trade or become a community of beggars.
We will review and take appropriate action.