The group has claimed on Twitter that it attacked a gas and crude oil pipeline belonging to state oil firm NNPC despite the presence of government troops guiding the facilities.
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New militant group, Niger Delta Avengers have continued with their threats to cripple the economy of the country with another daring attack on a gas and crude trunk line belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) in Warri, Delta state, late Thursday, May 27. Only a day prior to the attack earlier this month on Chevron’s pipeline, in a statement on its website the group stated: “We made it clear that no fix works should be done until our demands are fully met. We are ready to destroy more pipelines, we won’t only destroy pipelines, but will bring the fight to your tank farm and your (local) headquarters in Lekki, Lagos”.
In mid-May, oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said that production had plummeted to 1.4 million b/d, and since then attacks on oil infrastructure have continued, pushing output down further.
The Avengers have ordered all oil companies to leave the southern oil-producing delta by the end of May.
A military source, who ruled out the widespread cry of witch-hunt by the military against the people of Gbaramatu Kingdom, said soldiers arrested seven persons and recovered explosives, arms and ammunition during a raid on suspected hideouts of a former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s year-old government is facing multiple simultaneous crises, with a shortages of electricity, fuel and foreign currency and an imminent devaluation of the naira currency caused by lower oil prices.
Last week, Italian oil giant Eni declared force majeure after another attack on its AGIP pipeline took oil offline.
An oil worker in Nigeria.
“The Niger Delta stakeholders’ meeting is an insult to the people of the Niger Delta”.
The facilities were said to have the protection of soldiers.
Buhari’s supporters, meanwhile, say it’s an attempt by supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner, to embarrass the government.
A Nigerian boy plays close to an oil well in Olomoro village in Isokoarea of the delta region.
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He expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the UNEP report on the clean up of Ogoni land in the Delta and the extension of the Niger Delta Amnesty programme.
