Niger Delta Avengers says halted hostilities in Nigerian Delta

The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate – a group which became known after targeting an oil installation earlier this month – said that it attacked the Ogor-Oteri pipeline, which is operated NPDC and Nigerian energy company Shoreline.

The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate said it remains determined to seek “justice for the people”, and criticized other militant groups for seeking talks with the government only to “harass the Nigerian state and the oil multinationals into parting with money”.

Niger Delta Avengers, the group that claimed responsibility for most attacks in the impoverished region where militants want a greater share of the country’s oil wealth, said on August 29 it had halted hostilities.

Recurring attacks on oil and gas facilities by militants in the Niger Delta region has cut the country’s crude production – which stood at 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at the start of the year – to around 700,000 bpd.

When asked to state the militant group that government was negotiating with, considering the fact that there had been different statements from various agitators in the region, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Mr. Mohammed Garba-Deen, referred our correspondent to the Media Head, FMPR, Mr. Idang Alibi. “If anybody is confused, it is the militants that are confused because they are disorganized”, he was quoted to have said.

In a statement distributed to the media on August 20, 2016, the NDA said it has undertaken to “continue the observation of our unannounced cessation of hostilities in the Niger Delta against all interests of the multinational oil corporations”.

“Recall that we have shown pictures of the massing up of the troops on Tursday”.

He urged Nigerians to support the Federal Government in its efforts to make more economic gains. All sane minds know the meaning of “Crocodile tears”; so code-naming your military operation crocodile smiles only betrays your motives and attitude to the whole world about the Niger Delta question.

“Please, also tell those foreign nations that your troops are about carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Niger Delta in violation of Article Four of the Geneva Convention with “OPERATION CROCODILE SMILE”.