The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), a militant group in the Niger Delta region, has announced its decision to resume bombing of oil facilities and installations in the oil rich region.
NDA had through Operation Red Economy aimed to cripple the economy dealt a great blow to the Nigerian economy through a series of attacks on oil installations between 2016 and 2017. But after pressure from the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and elders of the region, the militant group suspended the operation to give President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration time to address the problems of the region.
However, in a notice posted on its website Saturday night titled: “We are back with Operation Humble,” the group said after deliberation by its high command, it had decided to resume hostilities.
The group, which announced changes in its leadership command, also passed a vote of no confidence in the Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Elders Forum (PANDEF) that birthed the peace accord in 2016 between it and the Federal Government.
It pointed that Nigeria as a country is at the “brink of total disintegration owing to the security and related challenges across the country, ranging from terrorism and banditry in the North to the secessionist gongs of the Oduduwa people of the Southwest and IPOB of the Southeast”
According to it, while the peace pervading in the Niger Delta region is the only thing binding the country together especially with its economic resources, the region, however, remains largely undeveloped.
NDA declared that it had lost confidence in the ability of elders of the region to intervene in the crisis of underdevelopment in the region and the lackadaisical attitude of the Nigerian government to address the plight of the people of the Niger Delta.
“This operation shall be coded ‘Operation Humble,’ aimed at bringing down targeted oil installations in the Niger Delta region capable of humbling the economy into permanent recession. This mission is also targeted at political actors who are collaborating with the Nigerian government to undermine the interest of the Niger Delta people.
There is no doubt that the Nigerian Government has continued to pay deaf ears to our demands and the rising challenges in the country because the pipelines that criss-crosses our lands her left untouched, allowing dollars to flow into the federal treasury on a daily basis for mismanagement.
“We shall spare no single oil installation within our range of strategic targets marked for destruction in the coming days and we bet the Nigerian Government will be humbled to return to the drawing board and chart an all-inclusive course by the time we are done with our action plan.
“Members of our strike teams across the Niger Delta are commanded to be on red alert awaiting precise strike plans as mapped by the high command of the NDA.”
It noted that “the high command of the NDA has promoted and appointed one of our finest operatives, Field Commander Tu-ere aka Queen of the Creeks to the rank of Brigadier General,” adding that “Tu-ere is the first female to ever attain this level and it is solely out of merit.” – The Sun.
