NDA strikes in Bayelsa, blows up 3 oil facilities

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

IN spite of assurances of safety from the Bayelsa State government to international oil companies, the new militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) struck at three major oil installations in a deadly attack in the wee hours of yesterday. The attack came few days after Governor Henry Seriake Dickson had described the NDA as a

criminal group whose activities is sending a wrong signal to foreign investors, during a meeting with the oil companies.

The NDA after its attack on an NNPC pipeline in Warri had vowed to launch a major attack that would shake the world reminiscent of the Bonga oil field attack by fighters of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). The affected oil installations are Nembe 1, 2 and 3, Brass to Bonny truck line belonging to Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Shell. According to investigations, fighters of NDA from Bayelsa axis  had stormed the facilities about 2.15am and detonated dynamites to blow up the facilities. The NDA, through its spokesman, Murdoch Agbinibo in a very short statement, claimed responsibility for the attack in continuation of its plan to cripple the economy to pave way for a Niger Delta republic. The statement read in part: “About 2.15am on Saturday (yesterday), the Niger Delta Avengers blew up Nembe 1, 2 and 3 Brass to Bonny Trunk Line belonging to Agip and Shell.” Expectedly, the latest attack, which is the third in Bayelsa State, would further hurt the economy of the state as its oil output would reduce.