Posted on: 01:30 Fri, 03 Jun 2016



Niger Delta Avengers, the militant
group responsible for renewed
hostilities in the Niger-Delta region,
on Thursday condemned the killing
of military personnel in the area,
promising the victims’ families that
those responsible for the heinous
act would be “brought to book.”

The condemnation followed
accusations that the group was
responsible for attacks on a
military houseboat in Ejere, a creek
in Warri South Local Government
Area of Delta State, which left at
least two soldiers dead.

In a statement signed by Mudoch
Agbinibo, the Avengers condemned
all acts of violence against military
and civilians, declaring “the days
of killing and kidnapping” over.

“Killing of sleeping soldiers is not
our style,” the Avengers said in an
update posted on its website. “We
promise the world that in this
process of liberating our people,
not a single blood of Nigeria
soldiers will be wasted despite the
provocation.”

“Our war is on oil installations not
to take innocent lives.”

Mr. Agbinibo assured “the families
of the affected soldiers that we will
bring the culprits to book.”

The Avengers, therefore, issued a
stern warning to other “freedom
fighters” in the region to emulate
its style of ensuring that no
innocent person would be killed in
the course of its agitation.

“This message is going to all groups
parading themselves as freedom
fighters. You can fight for your
people without killing innocent
souls NDA have (sic) proved it. We
were able to drop Nigeria oil
production from 2 million barrels
(per day) to just 800,000 barrels
without killing a soul. We are
warning every group to follow our
footsteps.”

The group claimed responsibility
for a series of bombings that
rocked Chevron, Agip and NNPC oil
and gas installations across the
Niger Delta in the last few days.

Last night, it claimed on its
favourite communication platform,
Twitter, that it blew up “Ogboinbiri
to Tebidaba and Clough Creek to
Tebidaba crude oil pipelines in
Bayelsa State,” as part of its
campaign to bring Nigeria’s oil
production output to “zero.”

On Wednesday, the Avengers said
it was responsible for the
destruction of Chevron oil wells
RMP 23 and RMP 24, and mocked
Nigeria’s military for being only
“good in harassing innocent
civilians.”

Nigerian military pushed back
against the militants’ claims that it
had become helpless in the
circumstance, saying it would not
be negligent in its obligations to
Nigerians.

“The Defence Headquarters wishes
to emphasize that the Nigerian
Armed Forces will not relent in
their efforts to flush out economic
saboteurs masquerading under
whatever guise to perpetuate evils
in the Niger Delta,” Rabe Abubakar,
the Acting Director of Defence
Information, said in a statement.

Last month, the group rejected a
meeting convened in Abuja by the
federal government, warning of its
readiness to carry out an attack
that will “shock the whole world”

“The Niger Delta stakeholder’s
meeting is an insult to the people of
Niger Delta. What we need is a
Sovereign State not pipeline
Contracts,” the group said.