Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) , the militant group
that had claimed responsibility for many sabotage
attacks in Niger Delta last year, said that it has
asked its fighters to prepare to fight the “enemy”
as it claimed Nigerian authorities were not ready
for dialogue.
The Avengers declared a ceasefire last year after
staging major attacks on oil facilities crippling
Nigeria’s oil output.
The attacks cut Nigeria’s oil production, which
stood at 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) at the
start of 2016, by more than a third in June 2016,
although the oil minister said in December that
pipeline repairs lifted output to nearly 1.8 million
bpd.
“It has been evidently clear that the Nigerian
state is not ready for any form of dialogue and
negotiation,” the Niger Delta Avengers said in a
statement posted on their website.
“All fighters and commands are hereby placed on
high readiness in your webs of operations to hit
and knock the enemy very hard,” the group said.
It declared the start of an “Operation Walls of
Jericho and Hurricane Joshua … to reclaim our
motherland” but did not say whether this meant
an end of the ceasefire or gave any details
In the past six months, government has held talks
with Niger Delta leaders to address grievances of
poverty and oil pollution. In his New Year speech,
President Muhammadu Buhari also spoke about
government’s readiness to forge peace in the
region.
But the militants have complained that no
progress has been made.
The Avengers, like other militant groups, has split
into different factions, which struggle to control
their fighters.
Another former militant group, the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) ,
which had agreed to lay down arms in 2009, said
a week ago it had lost trust in the government to
bring peace to the region.
Those behind the pipeline attacks, which began in
early 2016, say they want a greater share of
Nigeria’s energy wealth to go to the southern
region.
The frequency of attacks has diminished since
President Muhammadu Buhari held talks with
community leaders but there were sporadic
attacks, most recently in late November.
Niger Delta leaders on Thursday also told FG that
the region is running out of patience as a result
of the delay in the proposed dialogue between
government and stakeholders.
They said this at a meeting in Kiagbodo,
hometown of Ijaw leader, E.K Clark.
The leaders also lamented the “assault” on former
president Goodluck Jonathan ‘s family.
