The Niger Delta Avengers has on Wednesday announced its plan to resume deadly attacks on oil installations and facilities in Nigeria’s oil-rich region.
Spokesperson of the militant group Murdoch Agbinibo in a statement which was published on the group’s website said the round of attacks will be the “most deadly and will be targeting the deep sea operations of the multinationals.”
Calling for the restructuring of Nigeria, the group said their plan to attack oil facilities in the oil-rich region of the country is due to killings and division happening in some parts of the country.
“On the 15th of January 2018, being the 62nd historic Remembrance Day of the 1956 discovery of commercial oil by Shell Darcy in the now forgotten and dejected Oloibiri Community in the Niger Delta; the high command of the ND Avengers summoned a meeting of all our operatives from across the Niger Delta to review the progress of our operations so far and deliberate on the planned actions for the future.
“It was agreed in that meeting that the killings and division presently playing out in Nigeria along divergent grounds makes this the perfect time to restructure this country. Our demand unambiguously is for the government to restructure this Country,” the statement read in part.
The group said after announcing a ceasefire in November 2017, some of the elders in Niger Delta intervened and appealed that they should ceasefire. The Avengers, therefore, said they are disappointed because the elders have not achieved any result.
“On the 3rd of November 2017 we promised to reactivate “operation red economy” but as usual some over patriotic elders intervened and appealed as they have done twice before then for us to avail them some more time to attend to the demands of the Niger Delta as championed by the Niger Delta Avengers.
“That we have not achieved any meaningful results despite the opportunities we have availed the Niger Delta elders means that they are either irresponsible or the Nigerian government is not sincere with them as it is their trade in stock.”
The group said they have resolved not to listen to the Niger Delta elders and all they wish for is Nigeria’s restructuring and a control the resources of oil-rich Niger Delta.
“We wish to state in plain terms that anybody against restructuring is an enemy of this country and particularly an enemy of the Niger Delta Avengers. We want to control our resources and directly use them to better our lot instead of been enslaved and made to beg before crumbs are released in a dress rehearsal-like manner to intervention agencies that are ineffective.
“While 1 Billion Dollars from the excess crude account is been released to fight a Boko Haram in the North; successive government acts blind to the very bold array of challenges our region from which this wealth is generated is facing.”
The group also accused the Nigerian Army of releasing 244 members of the Boko Haram sect to Borno state government while thousands of innocent Niger Delta youths suffer in various prisons across the country and demanded the release of Niger Delta activists held captive.
“It is on the above premise that we are demanding the immediate release of all Niger Deltans Activists and Freedom Fighters that are held captive by the Nigeria Armed Forces.”
However, reacting, the Ijaw Youths Council(IYC) President, Worldwide, Mr. Pereotubo Oweilaemi, said the threat to resume bombing of oil facilities in the Niger Delta region by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) was inspired by the Federal Government’s cynical attitudes towards the plight of the people.
“This is not the first, second, third or the fourth time the militants are threatening to resume hostilities. The economy would have been bleeding had the leaders of the region did not prevailed on the agitators to give the Government the benefit of doubt.
“IYC as the mother body of the youths in Ijaw land and foremost organisation in the region has run out of words of consolation to appease the aggrieved youths. It is regrettable that, while we keep on appealing to the youths to maintain calm and allow the Government to unveil its blueprint for the region, the Government’s indifference to the plight of the people amidst the agitations for its attention is the greatest undoing.
“It becomes clear to every discerning mind that the Buhari led-government is only playing politics to the crisis in the region. How can you now say the Maritime University at Okerenkoko is yet to commence academic session after all the promises. Was it not this institution that the Government promised to take off academic activities by October last year? What annoying most is that even employment of junior staffs have not been carried out yet it declared a fake took off of academic session. What a pity?
“Most surprising to us while the above is the issues to be discussed, the Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN connived with the Itsekiri people to write a vexatious and provocative letter to the National Assembly demanding to change the name of the institution from Okerenkoko to Okerenghigho. Even when it is clear to a blind man that what Malami and his co-travellers tend to achieve is to frustrate the take off of the school, President Buhari has not taken any step to call the marauding AGF to order. Is this not an endorsement of the latter’s action?
“As a member of PANDEF, we don’t know what group has to advise the militants when the same Government is also fighting to break the ranks and files of the umbrella body in the region in order to give the leaders’ well-encompassing 16 point demands with a wave of hand. Honestly, we don’t know who should stand for the Government to appeal to the youths to sheath their swords.
“Another grievous economic crime committed by the present Government against the Niger Delta people is President Buhari’s new year message where he consigned the agitations for restructuring in the dustbin. No Niger Delta man is happy with the President’s preference for process instead of structure in tackling the nation’s socio-political development. Restructuring remains the only viable solution to the socio-political and economic crisis in Nigeria. The Country cannot survive in the midst of its growing problems without restructuring.
“The only way to avert the impending the economic Holocaust awaiting the oil industry is for the Government to be responsive to the needs of the people, especially the issue of development and restructuring and true federalism. We do not see any sense for the Government to hastily approve $1b to fight insurgents in the North East while leaves the region where you get the money in squalor. Niger Delta also needs the same quantum of money or more to address the ecological problems and the sessional flooding that have been ravaging all the riverine communities across the region.
Signed:
Pereotubo Oweilaemi, Esq.
IYC President, Worldwide
