Niger Delta militants

Ayorinde Oluokun

Niger Delta Avengers, the militant group that has launched successive attacks on Nigeria’s oil installations in the past few weeks claimed on Thursday that it had successfully blew up more oil assets in the Niger Delta.

The militant group which is now demanding autonomy for the oil producing region announced on its twitter handle ‏@NDAvengers that it blew up the Ogboinbiri to Tebidaba and Clough Creek to Tebidaba Crude Oil pipelines in Bayelsa State at about 2 am on Thursday.

The militant group did not name the company which owned the oil assets, contrary to its usual practice. The group added that the blew up of the oil installations in “is in line with our promise to all international Oil companies and Indigenous Oil Companies that Nigeria Oil production will be Zero.”

The Federal Government has so far insisted that it will not negotiate with the group which it described as criminals despite the fact that its sabotage activities have reduced Nigeria’s oil production by over 50 per cent.

On its part, the NDA has stated that its minimum demand for cessation of hostilities against the Nigerian state on its part will be the granting of regional autonomy to Niger Delta.