The former militant leader said that he knew nothing about NDA, which was carrying out series of attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region. According to Mr. Kachikwu’s statement released recently: “The Niger Delta governors must be involved in providing lasting solutions to the resurgence of pipeline vandalism and there is urgent need to create business opportunities for the locals in the region”. Instead, the following week, the group went on to threaten to bomb more of Chevron property if their demands continue to be ignored. In response, the group said it was not engaged in combat with the Nigerian army and no arrests were made.
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NDA used explosives to damage the Escravos tank farm main electricity feed pipeline, which resulted in Chevron’s onshore activities in the Niger Delta being shut down.
The attacks have largely affected Nigeria’s crude oil production.
Buratai said other security agencies were “overwhelmed” during the protest, hence the deployment of the military. The NDA has frequently called for the release of pro-Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, who has been detained by Nigerian security forces since October 2015 on charges of treasonable felony, which he denies.
The Nembe pipeline is said to carry the bonny light crude exported by Royal Dutch Shell, though the company is yet to make any official statement on the incident.
Nigeria’s oil production had already fallen from a projected 2.2 million barrels a day to 1.4 million barrels before the latest attacks on the oil industry in southern Nigeria, including three within the past week on facilities of the US oil major Chevron.
A militant group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers issued a warning to oil companies working in the region that its campaign is about to get bloody.
Akhaine said the government seemed to have no means of stopping the Niger Delta Avengers.
Mudoch Agbinibo, a spokesman for the violent group, had said: “If at the end of the ultimatum and you are still operating, we will blow up all the locations”.
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The government has responded by moving in army reinforcements but British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said this month that President Muhammadu Buhari needed to deal with the root causes of poverty and anger about oil spills. 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.
