Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) has warned oil field workers and foreigners to vacate the fields and terminals as it is ready to fight dirty.
The militant group, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, specifically warned Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) workers as well as foreigners to leave oil fields and terminals because “it will be going to be very dirty very soon.”
In the statement issued in the early hours of Thursday, the group said: “We are warning NUPENG and PENGASSAN to leave all oil fields and terminals in the Niger Delta because it will be going to be dirty very soon. Foreigners are to leave too”.
NDA, which reacted angrily to the claim by the Nigerian Navy that its logistics supplier was arrested, described it as the biggest joke of the 21st century, boasting that all its members are intact.
It castigated the Nigerian Navy as having lost its sense of professionalism with its attribution of every suspect arrested to the Niger Delta Avengers.
“As it is now, any Tom, Dick and Harry is a suspect of Niger Delta Avengers. Nigeria Navy has lost the sense of professionalism.
“The Nigeria military arrested school students in Oporoza and called them the Niger Delta Avengers; any criminal caught is NDA, even their business partners (illegal oil bunkerers) with which things went sour are NDA. Sea pirates are now NDA”, it said.
Also, the group lambasted the military for always denying any of its successful attacks on oil pipelines only to go after criminals and parade them as its members that breached such facilities.
“When Niger Delta Avengers carry out any major attack, they (Nigerian military) will deny it. First was the NNPC pipeline that was blown; second the 48-inches Exxonmobil pipeline that was blown by NDA. Mobil and the government denied it. Only for Exxonmobil to declare force majeure a few days after the attack”, it stated.
The militant group said emphatically that the Qua Iboe export pipeline operated by ExxonMobil which was blasted two weeks ago is down right now.
“Let me give a little brief about the Qua Iboe Export terminal. This is a subsidiary of Mobil and it is the biggest export stream in Nigeria. They export one million barrels every two days.
“I Brig. Gen Agbinibo personally led this operation, unlike the Nigeria Chief of Naval Staff that sit in the comfort of his office to pass orders”, the statement added.
The Niger Delta Avengers advised the military to stop deceiving the public and its Commander in Chief and come out with the truth on the Akwa Ibom blast instead of claiming that its operatives didn’t blow up the line but system anomaly.
“Shame on the Nigeria military,” he said.
“Reports from our intelligence agent, indicates that the only way funds can be allocated to various departments of the military is only when they arrest the Niger Delta Avengers operatives.
“But soonest the Nigerian public and their Commander in Chief will know that the military is not capable to handle the Niger Delta Avengers.
“How do you explain a military officer having a house in choice areas in Nigeria and outside the country?
“Nigeria serving and retired top officers are the richest people in Nigeria. How do they get such wealth? Right now, they are using Niger Delta Avengers to fraud the Nigeria government and tax payers of their money.”