Militants strike again, threatens to take fight to Lagos, Abuja

In a renewed attack on the country’s oil and gas installations in the Niger-Delta, Militants yesterday blew up the Chevron Valve Platform located on the high sea near Escravos in Warri, Delta State.

National Daily gathered that the Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group, has taken responsibility for the attack, warning that the development of soldiers in the region would not deter them from carrying out further attacks.

A statement by the group’s spokesman, Madoch Agbinibo, noted: “As for zeroing the Nigerian economy, the Niger Delta Avengers is done with the Niger Delta major oil installations. Now, we are taking the fight out of the creeks of the Niger Delta. We are taking it to Abuja and Lagos now,” he said.

“The high command of the Niger Delta Avengers wants to use this medium to thank Strike Team 6 for successfully blowing up the Chevron Valve Platform. And we are ready to protect the Niger Delta people.

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The Group in the statement threatens to cripple the economy unless their demand is met by the Federal Government, warning all international oil companies operating in the Niger Delta to brace up for more attack.

This latest attack is another setback to the nation’s oil and gas production sector, even as the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) is still working to restore the Forcados export terminals after a similar attack two months ago.

The development may further reduce the nation’s oil and gas output. But Chevron is yet to confirm if production has been halted at Escravos and how much of the process is affected.

The group had earlier claimed responsibility for the attack on the Forcados 48-inch Export Pipeline two months ago.

An attack was launched early this year on Escravos Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) connected to Chevron Nigeria Limited’s gas network at Escravos. This negatively impacted gas supply to some critical power projects.