Niger Delta Avengers gives oil companies two week ultimatum to leave their region

NEW militant group the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has given oil companies operating in the region a two week ultimatum to shut down their businesses and evacuate all their staff or face a bloody attack.

 

Over recent weeks, militancy has returned to the Niger Delta, with NDA blowing up pipelines and oil installations. President Muhammadu Buhari has responded by ordering the military to treat the group in the same manner in which it treats Boko Haram terrorists and insurgents.

 

Undeterred by the threat of military action, NDA issued a two-week ultimatum to owners and operators of oil concessions in the region to leave the Niger Delta.  It had recently claimed responsibility for the destruction of Chevron and Shell’s oil facilities in the western Niger Delta, resulting in the shut-in of several thousands of barrels of crude oil, disruption of crude supply to the Kaduna and Warri refineries.

 

NDA spokesperson Col Mudock Agbinibo warned Chevron not to embark on the repair of the valve blown up last week, or several casualties would be recorded during any confrontation. Given a detailed breakdown of owners of the oil wells in the Niger Delta region, NDA claimed that at least 90% of the platforms are owned by people outside the oil-producing region, so they would shut down the companies permanently.

Col Agbinibo said: “To owners and operators of these oil blocks in our region, the Niger Delta Avengers is giving you two weeks ultimatum to shut down your operations and evacuate your staff. If at the end of the ultimatum, you are still operating, we will blow up all the locations.

 

"It will be bloody, so just shut down your operations and leave. There is a rumour that oil has been discovered in the northeast, so how will you feel if this new found oil is being managed by Niger Deltans?"

 

It added that the Niger Deltans do not even have 2% of the oil blocks if oil is really found in the northeast. Focusing on Chevron again, the militant group claimed that it had information that the company was in the process of fixing the facilities recently blown up by its members.