Ibok-Ete Ibas, the chief of naval staff of Nigeria, has warned the Niger Delta Avengers against threat to resume destruction and bombing of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
The News Agency of (NAN) reports that the militant group had recently announced plans to resume hostilities, claiming that the Federal Government had not fulfilled its promise to redress situations in the region.
Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at the Headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command in Calabar, Vice Admiral Ibas said no group had the strength to threaten the peace and unity of Nigeria.
The CNS, who had an extensive interaction with officers and ratings across all formations under the Eastern Naval Command, said that the navy was prepared to confront any threat in the region.
“We are prepared for any group that threatens the unity and peace of our country. We are ready to stop all forms of illegal activities on our nation’s economic resources.
“I am here to carry out an appraisal on the activities of all mobile units ashore, training establishment as well as exercise the fleet later.
“No individual or group including the Niger Delta Avengers has the audacity to threaten the country and we will also make sure that Nigerians can use the maritime space unhindered.
“We have in the last two years made a considerable impact of reducing the operations of pirates,” he said.
He said that the presence of the Navy had given rise to maritime commerce, and that there had been remarkable improvement on the number of ships that were coming into the country.
Ibas explained that the recent acquisition of 150 boats by Nigerian Navy which was produced by an indigenous company `Epenal Boat’, had created positive impact in the navy.
“Most great nations are nations that are able to take their destiny in their hands.
“I believe that Nigeria could look inwards and develop boats. We have identified that we have an indigenous boat company and we decided to try them, out given the type of challenges that we have,” he said.
He also disclosed that the Navy had on Nov. 12 arrested six pirates that had attempted to hijack a ship, adding that the impact of the navy on sea had given rise to increased maritime activities.
Who Are The Niger Delta Avengers?
Niger Delta Avengers is a new militancy group that is operating in the oil-rich region of Southern Nigeria. In the second quarter of 2016, the group emerged as the leading militant group mounting attacks on crude oil and gas installations in the troubled region.
The militant group say it is waging a war for a free Niger Delta Republic in what it tags, Operation Red Economy, with a view of halting crude oil production in Nigeria to force the government to grant the group’s demands.
The Avengers claims it has reduced oil production in the country to less than one million barrels a day. An analyst at VOA News corroborates the militants’ claims saying that oil production has dropped below one million barrels a day due to the waves of attacks on pipelines and oil installations.
The militant group has released its rules of engagement and says that it doesn’t kill anybody or attack oil workers or soldiers. The Delta Avengers called on all other groups operating in the region to abide by these rules of engagement. “We need God now, more than ever,” the group said in a statement.
The Niger Delta Avengers has presented an 11-point demand to President Muhammadu Buhari and the first is the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference. [Download Conference report HERE.]
President Muhammadu Buhari recently rejected the Avengers’ demands saying that the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable. The president’s first reaction to the Avengers was to declare war against them. He later promised to “crush them” as he did Boko Haram. That position has shifted to begging them in the ‘name of Almighty God’ to stop the attacks.
Pro-Biafra secessionist group, Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, has pledged “total allegiance” to the Niger Delta Avengers extolling the militant group for supporting the cause of a free Biafra. MASSOB embraces the tenets of nonviolence. It is led by Ralph Uwazuruike, a lawyer.
In June, 2016 the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, another secessionist group pledged its support for the Niger Delta Avengers, saying the groups’ ideal of freedom align.
Additional reports by NAN
