OpeOluwani Akintayo
02 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Niger Delta Avengers, NDA is yet to carry out its threat exactly two weeks after announcing an intention to bomb the Egina FPSO and other deepwater installations in the Niger Delta.
In a statement titled ‘HAPPY DOOMED YEAR NIGERIA; GET READY FOR OPERATION BRINGING DOWN FPSO’ published on January 17, the group through its spokesperson, Maj.Gen Murdoch Agbinibo had “admonished” the Nigerian government to brace up for “the doom” already finalised to be “unleashed” in “few days time”.
According to the statement, the planned round of attacks would be “the most deadly”, and targeted at the deep sea operations of the multinationals such as Bonga Platform, Agbami, EA Field, Britania-U Field, Akpo Field; amongst others on the deep waters of the Niger Delta region.
“As for the Egina FPSO, we are advising the operators to let it stay where ever it is right now as we are tracking its movement. We mean it when we say they (the oil installations) shall dance to the sound of the fury of the Niger Delta Avengers. Good a thing the ocean is wide enough to accommodate as many wrecks as possible”, the statement added.
Before the January threat, the last heard from the group was on 3rd of November last year when it declared the end of its ceasefire on Operation Red Economy.
“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”.
“While promising a brutal outpour of our wrath, which shall shake the coffers of the failed Nigerian nation, our demand unambiguously is for the government to “RESTRUCTURE THIS COUNTRY”.
However, just like its November threat went unhatched, the group’s January rant about striking also appears not to hold waters giving that no report of bombing has emanated from the Delta.
Explaining why it failed to carry out its November 3rd attack, NDA said it was due to the “usual overzealous and over patriotic elders” who 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”.
According to the militant group who have successfully carried out spates of pipeline attacks in the past, that the peace talks with the government had not achieved any meaningful results despite the opportunities it had availed the Niger Delta elders, meant that they (elders) are either “irresponsible or the Nigerian government is not sincere with them as it is their trade in stock”.
“Because of the above, we have resolved not to listen to the Niger Delta elders as we unravel our New year package to the failed Nigerian state this time around”.
“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, and we shall not rest until such enemies are defeated by the Niger Delta People who earnestly seek to control our own resources”.
The group restated that it wants “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 at addressing our challenges”.
“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; as they (the Nigerian Government) derive pleasure in sending their unprofessional and weak military to invade our communities and subject our already sick and suffering people to more hardship and poverty”, it added.
Taking its demand a step further, NDA called for the immediate release of all Niger Deltans Activists and freedom fighters that are held captive by the Nigeria Armed Forces citing the recent release of 244 members of Boko Haram sect to Borno state government by the Nigerian Army.
