The Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group which has been carrying out attacks on Nigerian oil facilities in the last few months, claimed responsibility yesterday for five new attacks in the southern energy hub since Friday.
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Since early this year, the Avengers have been bombing pipelines as they fight to win the Niger delta region a bigger share of crude revenue and greater political autonomy.
The Niger Delta was a site of armed struggle from 2004 to 2009, with groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) staging attacks against oil facilities and government troops.
“From findings by the team, an NPDC (Nigerian Petroleum Development Company) manifold was blown up while an NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) pipeline, which is about 800 metres from the manifold, was also blown up”.
Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru will become the company’s new managing director, replacing oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu.
The statement, carried on the group’s website, said the attacks happened shortly before midnight, but did not make clear whether the strikes were on Monday.
“SSS and Nigerian Army can’t win the Niger Delta war by feeding their President with false information about situation of things in the Region”. Monday confirmed the militants’ claims.
Following a reported cease-fire with militants, the crude facilities in the Niger River Delta underwent repairs.
He said that the gazette on the Niger Delta amnesty programme by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration was being studied with a view to determining what had been fulfilled, promising that whatever was left would equally be addressed.
In February, Twitter said it had shut down more than 125,000 terrorism-related accounts since the middle of 2015, most of which were linked to the Islamic State group.
The suspension came a day after the group said it successfully launched five attacks on oil installations within two days.
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They also want government to clean up the area.
