The militants who announced the bombing via their Twitter account said despite the presence of 100 Gunboats, 4 Warships and Jet Bombers belonging to the Nigerian army, it blew up Chevron’s Oil Well RMP 23 and RMP 24 at about 3:44am Wednesday, June 1.
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The amnesty program, launched in 2009 after years of violence by militant groups demanding a better share of the oil wealth, provided wages to about 30,000 ex-militants and training opportunities.
“Until the issues of resource control that the Niger Delta people have been fighting for since 1960 are addressed. there can be no peace”, said Udengs Eradiri, president of the Ijaw Youth Congress.
“This is to show the whole world that the Nigeria military is good in harassing innocent Nigerians.” the group said.
The commander explained that while the true identity of the suspects would be unraveled through investigations, recent explosions carried out by the NDA suggested that the arrested suspects may be connected to the group.
But security operations would still go on, he said.
Meanwhile five citizens of Benin Republic in connection with economic crimes in the Niger Delta have been arrested by operatives of Forward Operation Base (FOB) Badagry.
Industry officials said was a well scripted plan by the self styled Niger Delta Avengers group to completely shut down oil production in Nigeria, already down to 1.1 million b/d, according to official statistics.
Army chief Maj. Gen. Tukur Buratai said the army will not tolerate the militants “killing our soldiers”, but did not provide any details about military casualties.
The Niger Delta Avengers has given the oil companies a May 31 deadline to leave Nigeria’s southern, oil-producing Niger Delta.
The Senior Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters (Senate) to President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the Niger Delta to drop their arms for the interest of the region and country.
“We shall apprehend the perpetrators and their sponsors and bring them to justice”, he said.
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It is however unclear if the Niger Delta Avengers are part of the agreement. Army spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman said they had killed or wounded an unknown number of them. Rights activists say they have been exposed to pollution levels that would never be allowed in the home countries of the multinationals that operate in Africa’s biggest economy in joint partnerships with the Nigerian government.
