Niger Delta Avengers
Niger Delta Avengers

 

Nigerian Militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, appears to have doused the expectation of many Nigerians by revealing that they may not be at the negotiation table with the committee put together by the Federal Government.

Yesterday, members of that committee met with Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja. They included governors of some of the oil producing states of Delta, Rivers, Bayels, Ondo, Abia and Edo. Also in attendance were the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff and that of the Navy. There was also the Minister of Defence, the Minister of State for Petroleum and the Special Adviser to the President on Amnesty Programme. Reports say, one of the major resolutions at that meeting was that military action in the Niger Delta be scaled down significantly at this time.

Many Nigerians naturally felt that meeting would be a prelude to getting the NDA to be involved in the negotiations which would expectedly read to their laying down their arms. This morning, the Avengers posted a statement to the Nigerian public in the following words: “We are not negotiating with any committee. If Federal Government is discussing with any group, they’re doing that on their own.” There are two apparent sides to NDA’s statement. It is either they were never contacted about the meeting or they are not ready to negotiate.

At about 1:00a.m. this morning, just hours after the Abuja meeting, the militants blew up another oil well. The well whose identity was given by the NDA as RMP 20 belongs to Chevron and is located about 20 metres away from the Dibi Flow Station, between Opial and Dagbolo villages in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State.

Yesterday, Niger Delta Avengers launched a verbal attack on the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND. Obviously reacting to an earlier attack on it by MEND, NDA said they were keenly watching the efforts by a former governor of a Niger Delta State and a serving one, to rebrand and regroup criminal elements in the region for their short term political gains.

“The NDA,” said the Avengers, “is unperturbed, we have a mandate that is clearly a departure from those old tactics of the defunct so–called MEND that was indulged in kidnapping, hostage-taking, sea piracy, illegal oil bunkering, bank robberies and social crimes.”

Niger Delta Avengers went on to attempt to educate Nigerians on its identity and mission: “The wind of change in the Niger Delta struggle has come, we are young, smart and focused Niger Deltans. Our mandate is to liberate the Niger Delta people; we don’t run after pipeline contracts.”