New Militant Group Emerges In Rivers 24 hrs after FG Begin Talks With Niger Delta Avengers

         

A new militant group have emerged in Rivers state just 24 hours after the Federal Government began talks with the Niger Delta Avengers to end the bombing of pipelines and oil well facilities.The new group Ekpeye Liberation Group (ELG) yesterday gave  oil companies in the state 14 days ultimatum to relocate.

 Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG), Total Exploration and Production (E&P) and the Niger Delta Petroleum Resources (NDPR) are among the affected.
The new group, which consists of ex-militants and freedom agitators, also claimed responsibility for explosion at NAOC’s well 5 in Akara Olu community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The ELG in a statement said :“We hereby give SPDC, NAOC, NLNG, Total E&P and NDPR a 14-day ultimatum to vacate Ekpeyeland. Anything other than that will mean that we shall bring total war to the doorsteps of the multinationals in the area.

“Our Operation Red Economy will commence after the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum given to the oil companies, and it shall be coordinated by Team 3 Leader, ‘General’ Akpatus a.k.a. Pipelines Strike Chief.

“We condemn outright the lukewarm attitude of the oil companies operating in Ekpeyeland in the face of the incessant killings and kidnappings of our people in recent times.

“The oil firms have failed to discharge their corporate social responsibility (CSR) to their host communities, thereby leaving the people in abject poverty and hopelessness.”

The ELG also said continuous oil exploration and exploitation by the multinationals had brought untold hardship to the people of the area, lamenting that their lands were no longer fertile, waters polluted, no development and no Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for host communities of the oil companies, with the people suffering in the midst of plenty.

The new militant group strongly warned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, not to conclude that the Niger Delta struggle was for Ijaw people alone.

It declared that any attempt to short-change other ethnic nationalities in the Niger Delta would be resisted, stressing that Kachikwu’s alleged position would increase the bleeding of Nigeria’s economy.