The Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group operating in the oil-rich region of Southern Nigeria, has issued a new statement, Tuesday, May 31, 2016 on the brutal military invasion of Gbaramatu Kingdom in which the group raised a number of issues with a number of players in the Niger Delta restiveness.
The statement on the group’s website titled, Tompolo Before Your Eyes Your People Are Suffering, says that Nigerian soldiers who invaded Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State are committing crimes against humanity including systematic rape of girls in the community.
Gbaramatu is the home of former Niger Delta warlord, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo who has called on the Delta Avengers to cease hostilities and negotiate with the federal government. He has denied any involvement with the group.
The statement, signed by Brigadier General Mudoch Agbinibo, who appears to have been promoted from the rank of colonel, calls out the army commanders overseeing the Gbaramatu invasion in which community leaders say that soldiers are looting and burning homes and residents have fled into the forest.
The group also says that a pipeline contractor, Captain Okunbor Idahosa, chairman and chief executive of Oil Marine Services has induced Nigerian Army brigade commander of Benin, Brigadier General Faruk Yahaya and the officer commanding army gunboat of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), Major M. B. Yahaya with the sum of N250 million to destroy Gbaramatu Kingdom under the cover of hunting for the Niger Delta Avengers.
Oil Marine Services (OMS) whose Chairman and CEO is Capt. Okunbor Idahosa also known, as Capt. Hosa is the company Nigerian Government awarded the Pipeline surveillance contract to spanning from Escravos to Lokoja. The said Capt. Hosa bribed the Brigade Commander Benin (Brig. Gen. Faruk Yahaya) alongside the Officer Commanding Army Gunboat, JTF (Major. M. B. Yahaya) with the sum of two hundred and fifty million naira (250,000,000) in collaboration with one Ayiri Emami to destroy Gbaramatu Kingdom in the guise of looking for the Niger Delta Avengers.
The Avengers promise to take vengeance over these acts of brutality against the innocent people of Delta State and mocked the army for going after soft targets while they have no ability to capture the militants.
“To you Capt. Hosa the new pipeline protector; the intelligence unit of the Avengers has your full data, we know where all your assets are located and that most of your businesses are in the Niger Delta. For this single act of injustice against the innocent people of Gbaramatu you, your wife and entire family will suffer,” the statement said.
They also mocked Tompolo and expressed disappointment at his collaborative stance with the federal government.
The Niger Delta Avengers 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 group has presented an 11-point demand to President Muhammadu Buhari and the first is the implementation of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.
By the way, President Muhammadu Buhari has not read the report and believes it should remain in “the archives”, archives is a code word for dustbin.
