Again, new militant group in Rivers State, Bayan-Men, has blown up an oil facility belonging to Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) at the Obosi area of Omoku, Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State.

This came at the expiration of the 24 hours ultimatum given to Agip by the group on Sunday.

A source in the area said aggrieved agitators blew up Onosi-Ogu Manifold owned by the firm at Obosi, adding that the heavy sound of the explosion caused panic in the area.

The source also said that Agip has not been able to put out the fire of the last week’s attack, calling on the firm to engage the aggrieved youths.

The militant group, in a statement yesterday, owned up the attack, noting that it was acting as a result of the injustice against the Omoku people.

The statement signed by ‘General’ Agaba of Bayan-Men, stated that it would carry out more attacks on Agip facilities if the firm fails to engage Omoku communities directly.

The statement reads: “The action we carried out yesterday is as a result of Agip’s failure to comply with the 24 hours ultimatum we handed to them to engage our people on how to commence dealing directly with individual communities directly.

“We are not criminals, we are intellectuals. The fact is that when a man is pushed to the wall, he bounces back with double force. We are giving Agip another seven days to open windows of negotiation with the 27 communities of the Omoku clan. 

The Police public relations Officer, SP Nnamdi Omoni, was yet to confirm the report as calls and text messages sent to his telephone were not replied to. 

Agip also was yet to confirm the development, as they were yet to make any official statement at the time of filing this report.