Militants blow up another pipeline
AFP/Getty image
A militant group on Monday claimed an attack on a crude oil pipeline in Delta State, in the second attack on the same line in less than a week.
In an emailed statement, Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM) spokesman Aldo Agbalaja said “Opudo strike force, at about 11:30 pm on Sunday, September 18, 2016, struck the Afiesere-Ekiugbo delivery line in Ughelli, operated by NPDC/Shoreline.”
The rebel group hit the same pipeline last Tuesday and vowed to “ground” the Nigerian economy, which is already in recession, in large part due to plummeting oil exports as a result of sabotage.
The NDGJM has stepped up its attacks after rival group the Niger Delta Avengers declared a ceasefire in August and entered talks with the Nigerian government.
“All agrarian products in the area surrounding the scene of the incident have been damaged as a result of the blast,” a resident of the nearby Ekuigbo community, Efemena Akposire, told AFP.
A military officer added: “Unlike previous attacks carried out by the group where they hack-sawed the pipelines, dynamite was used in this case.”
Nigeria’s military has boosted its presence in the oil-producing southern swamplands in response to the attacks, raiding suspected militant camps and clamping down on illegal oil refineries.
Various rebel groups have complained about poor living conditions in the area, where despite massive oil wealth most people live in poverty without access to basic services such as education and health care.
Distrust in the Nigerian security forces is widespread in the region. Last week the NDGJM complained of intimidation and vowed to “match force with the oppressor’s brutality”.
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Nigeria’s credit rating last week, saying the “marked contraction” in oil production from an average of 2.1 million barrels per day to 1.7 was hurting its economic prospects.
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10 Comments
How do we find our ways out of Recession is incessant bombings of critical assets are not stopped?
Would it be right to blame Buhari is we remain in Recession for too long?
Nigerians that I know shall be more than ever determined to support and back President Buhari to apply the BIG STICK.
We can’t allow the disrespect to Leaders and government that oftentimes come from blatant crimes again.
Nigerians should please support their Government today and tomorrow and forevermore. .
why going every where looking for news, aren’t you tired. As you can see the bombing is not going to stop until zero output is achieved
If we decided to enforce the Laws , no nation would come to your aids , not even the United Nation that has called for cessation of bombings.
Remember that your Youths are hurting our Economy.
how do we drag ourselves out of recession if the government has chosen to ignore the reality that at the heart of the unrest in the Niger Delta is an institutional injustice. he that goes before equity must go with clean hands and of course equity does not reward the indolent. the point is that these guys are ready to take their destiny in their hands. government should negotiate to ensure a lasting and final resolution of this dispute
Here he goes again.
Jonathan was a President and from the Niger Delta and he was there for 6years uninterrupted.
What institutions are you talking about ?
I hope you are not trying to make CORRUPTION an INSTITUTION.
Then we are in trouble if it is so.
In the final analysis it will be discovered that the lazy ones in ND already used to free launch and free flow of money without working are the ones responsible for the bombings. The very poor in the region will be the people to suffer most the consequences of this irrational behavior. Granted there has been injustice done to the region, is incessant blowing of pipeline the solution with the attendant degradation of the landscape and massive pollution. These people should think, that is if they have the capacity to do so. Many of these guys are always under the influence of alcohol or ganja..Enough is enough, the majority reasonable ones should call them to order.
That is not my worry but some other things that are happening around them which they still do not know.
Not too long ago a community in Bayelsa state witnessed a Sudden Earth Tremors that lasted some minutes intermittently and it equally happened around Kaduna State just 7days or so ago ,while it happened again before others at Saki area of Oyo State.
With my knowledge in advance Geograhy I am suspecting that in 20years or more to come the tremor would gain energy and opened up more cracks from Bayelsa up North across the Imo to Nassaraw then to Abuja to Kaduna to right down back south through Oyo to Lagos and then a huge SILENCE.
Half of Nigeria would be underwater because we are sitting on a HUGE TECTONIC PLATE of 1500km radius.
Everything and Everybody will perish and your decayed bodies would be crude oil for the North. The south becomes a huge lake filled with water from closed by rivers and ends AGITATIONS and ofcourse Owanbe
I am relocating with my all.
Have you seen how the so called militants leaders live? Go and see Atake Tom ostentatious life style, Atake is so rich, it is ridiculous. Look at the other loud mouth militant, Dokubo. This guy even had the gut to build university in another country. He did not cite the school in his village o. They are all criminals and any person asking President Buhari to negotiate with them are in the same business of criminality with them. President Jonathan negotiated with them, what benefit did Nigerians get? Nothing at all, if anything the man just gave them total freedom to siphon crude oil anyway they wanted.
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These people are not militants but criminals with retarded brains. Who suffers? Nigerians. who suffers the environmental degradation and loss of economic activities? The Niger/Delta. Fools!!!
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