Niger Delta Avengers says it will launch attacks on oil facilities within days

A Niger Delta militant group has said it would begin another round of violent campaigns against oil companies in Nigeria in a few days’ time.

“This round of attacks will be the most deadly and will be targeting the deep sea operations of the multinationals which include Bonga Platform, Agbami, EA Field, Britania-U Field, Akpo Field,” the Niger Delta Avengers said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.

About 17 attacks carried out in 2016 by the Avengers and other militant groups in the oil-rich Niger Delta were partly responsible for a slump in Nigeria’s oil output, which in turn plunged the country into a recession.
The group had threatened to launch “Operation Red Economy” on oil facilities in November 2017 but was dissuaded by the leadership of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), set up last year to chart a way forward with the Nigerian government.

While resource control has been at the heart of the agitations of many militant groups in the Niger Delta, the NDA, is this time around demanding for the country’s restructuring.

“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,” it said in the statement signed by its spokesperson Murdoch Agbinibo.

The group also insisted on the control of “our resources and directly use them to better our lot instead of being 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.”