Niger Delta Avengers vows to continue to vandalise pipelines
- A militant group claims responsibility for pipeline vandalism in Nigeria
- President Buhari vowed to deal with vandals like Boko Haram terrrorist
- The group says it is undeterred and will continue to attack
A few days after President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to deal with pipeline vandals like Boko Haram terrorist, a group has come out to claim responsibility for the vandalism and vowed to carry out more attacks.
Nigeria has witnessed series of attacks and vandalism on pipelines which has affected power and fuel distribution which has inadvertently affected the country.
President Buhari said during his trip to China that his administration would crack-down on vandals and give them the same treatment given to terrorists.
Reuters reports that the Niger Delta Avengers has said it carried out the attack on a Shell underwater pipeline in February which affected oil flows and forced the company to shut down its 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal for weeks.
READ ALSO: Tension in Delta as militants vow to blow up more pipelines
The vandalism of pipelines is not unconnected to a warrant issued for the arrest of a former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo.
The group said: “We are not deterred by such threats as we are highly spirited and shall continue blowing up pipelines until the Niger Delta people are no longer marginalized by the Nigerian actors.”
The group said it was interested in improving the lives of local people in the oil-producing region.
“We take no pleasure in claiming innocent lives hence our struggle is geared toward attacking the oil installations in our region and not the people. And we shall stop at nothing until our goal is achieved.”
The vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo visited the area where the pipelines were vandalised and said the government was committed to putting an end to the attacks.
He said: “As you know, pipelines vandals are probably as bad as any type of terrorists or saboteurs and the danger posed to lives caused by pipelines vandals. All of us must agree with the president that the vandals must be treated with the most severe manner and should not be tolerated at all.
“So, I agree entirely that pipelines vandals should not be tolerated under no circumstances.
“Aside from the gas problem, there is also the problem of losing thousands of barrels of production. We are not able to produce as much as we ought to. About 250,000 barrels are lost per day. We are losing large sums of money daily. We look for alternative, while we look to repair the pipelines."
Source: Legit.ng
