Militants Threaten Fresh Attacks …Accuse FG Of Insincerity

One of the militant groups, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), has warned that it was considering intensifying violent campaign against oil and gas installations in the region.

The group, which claimed responsibility for destroying the Trans-Forcados pipeline barely 24 hours after the commencement of the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Niger Delta leaders in Abuja, threatened to carry out more attacks on oil installations that would make those masterminded by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) a child’s play.

In a statement signed by its spokesman, Aldo Agbalaja, and emailed to The Tide, the NDGJM said that its objective was to cripple crude production capacity in the region in order to compel the Buhari administration to abandon its bellicose strategy for genuine mutual dialogue towards enduring peace and development of the Niger Delta.

The statement, released at the weekend, indicated that the bmilitants would not relent in their violent campaign because of perceived lack of seriousness or commitment of the Buhari administration to the peace process in the Niger Delta.

The NDGJM said that the president betrayed his insincerity to the cause of the region while meeting in Abuja with some leaders of the Niger Delta led by Chief Edwin Clark.

According to the statement titled, “We Warned Them”, the militant group said, “The humiliation that came with the meeting of the PANDEF with the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, did not come to the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate as a surprise, we expected it because we know even the government knows the character and intent of the man and most of those he led to the meeting. We warned and the government/the world gave heed. The only painful part is the fact that the humiliation is stamped on the collective image of our people.

“However, we want to dare President Buhari and his administration to attempt or fully carry out his military action against our people, and see the response that will follow. We want to say here, without mincing words, that we are aware of his intentions, we heard loud and clear his hostile message, we understand his message even beyond his uttered words, and the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate is saying we are ready for his worst.

“We know he has severally threatened war on our people, threats we had been calm enough not to respond to, but at this point, we believe it is time for us to come out to say to him that enough is enough.

“Niger Deltans are nobody’s slave, we shall fight until there’s nothing left to defend. As a matter of fact, what the Avengers (Niger Delta Avengers) did to the oil industry will be nothing to compare with the grand-plan already set by our Central Command: we shall bring the Nigerian daily output quota to below 500,000. Just be ready for the approaching tsunami.”

It blamed the multinational oil companies for disregarding the militants’ warnings, thereby prompting the attacks and destruction of oil and gas facilities in the region.

“The oil multinational companies, we know you are recalcitrant and will always come to test our will, we hope you will continue in this tradition so there will always be reason to let the world know that “you don’t contest the corners of a house with the owner of the house.

“The destruction of the Trans-Forcados Pipeline (TFP) is just a warning to a deaf/rogue entity. We warned against the restarting of the facility, but the daring companies won’t listen. That shadow operation that brought the TFP down was only meant to let these companies know that we aren’t kidding with them; when we say stay down, you stay down, it is in your own best interest.”

The group, however, insisted that it was not opposed to the dialogue option in the quest for peace in the oil-rich region, but maintained that the terms of such peace deal should not be dictated by President Buhari but should involve all genuine stakeholders in the region.

The statement also accused the Federal Government of handpicking for dialogue a handful of dead-woods who have allegedly been responsible for decades of injustice and underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region.

“Like we said prior to now, if there will be a dialogue and an agreement between the Niger Delta and the Federal Government, it has to be transparent and sincere, and the representatives of our people will be selected by the various people, not handpicked by the cabal of leeches responsible for the current deplorable state of our land and people.

Nelson Chukudi