Otuaro committee had not made any formal contact with the Avengers because the members have remained mysterious, but the intelligence command of the NDA, said to be keeping a tab not just on the team but also the Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta and other government agencies, has reportedly given a preliminary report on its findings.
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President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier on Friday in Abuja assured oil companies operating in the Niger Delta that the Federal Government was taking all necessary actions to protect strategic assets in the region from vandals and criminals.
Resident James Dadiowei said he heard a “loud bang” at the pipeline, but an NNPC spokesman was unable to confirm the attack.
“Mr. Brown had appealed for an urgent solution to rising crime and militancy in the Niger Delta”, the presidency said.
It was gathered that the facility belongs to phase two of the Escravos-Lagos gas pipeline owned by the Nigerian Gas Company Limited.
The pipeline, which connects the Escravos oil terminal to Warri, supplies gas to different parts of the country.
On Friday a locals said a gas pipeline operated by the state energy company had been attacked late on Thursday.
Shell reportedly evacuated personnel from an offshore installation recently after militants targeted U.S. group Chevron while on Wednesday rebels bombed a gas pipeline owned by a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni.
Eric Omare, a spokesman for Ijaw Youth Council, said the attack occurred around the village of Ogbe Ijoh, near Warri.
In February, the Avengers claimed an attack on an undersea pipeline, forcing Shell to shut a 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados terminal. Power outages across Nigeria worsened as gas supplies were also affected.
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Rather than destroying pipelines and sabotaging the economy of the country, Onuesoke advised the group to embrace peace by going into negotiation with the Federal Government on the possibility of passing the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) and withdrawal of oil blocks from their owners in order to create a balance.
