AFTER blowing up additional gas and crude oil trunk lines belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in Delta State, in a twin attack, Thursday night, the Niger Delta Avengers yesterday issued a notice to the Nigerian Military, International and Indigenous Oil Companies, IOCs, to watch out for “something big”.
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The PUNCH reported on Friday that the Federal Government had met with a select group of militants from the restive Niger Delta as a result of the ongoing attacks on oil pipelines in the region.
They say they want a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth for delta residents whose fishing and agricultural grounds have been destroyed by oil pollution.
The spokesman for the joint military tacks force in the area, Isa Ado, could not be immediately reached for comments, but security sources and residents in the area confirmed the attack.
Militants in the Niger Delta region have an attacked an NNPC oil facility in the region.
“The Niger Delta stakeholders’ meeting is an insult to the people of the Niger Delta. What we need is a Sovereign State not pipeline Contracts”, NDA said.
In a tweet, the group confirmed the attack, warning that it was ready to “shock the whole world”. Last week, Chevron’s Makaraba crude oil line was attacked on the offshore Okan manifold in the region.
When contacted by one of our correspondents, the spokesperson for the NNPC, Mr. Garba-Deen Mohammed, said, “The NNPC pipeline, bringing crude from Escravos to Warri, was the one that was affected”.
“There was an explosion at about 11:15pm, but we have not been able to ascertain the exact point. We need to be very concrete with our information”, Mulade said. The insurgent group has in recent times cost Nigeria’s crude oil output and gas production huge losses.
The Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS Delta), Warri, Commodore Raimi Mohammed also refused to pick calls and respond to test messages even though the incident took place close to the Naval Base.
“If it was in the Warri area, I don’t think there is any new pipeline that has not been breached by the militants”.
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The Avengers have ordered all oil companies to leave the southern oil-producing delta by the end of May.
