The Niger Delta Avengers has claimed that the Federal Government should be blamed for the renewed attacks on oil facilities in the region.
The group told the leaders of the Niger Delta region, under the Chief Edwin Clark-led Pan Niger Delta Forum, that they could not help but bring down some oil facilities in the region because the Federal Government had allegedly refused to honour the ceasefire terms they both entered.
A statement issued by the group’s spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, told Clark and other leaders to blame both the Federal Government and the Nigerian military for the fresh attacks.
They added that the government was using military force to undermine the peace process by ‘unnecessarily’ harassing communities and arresting innocent people in the region.
The statement noted that, “We see this as a deliberate move by the military establishment to undermine any effort of dialogue and negotiations with the people of the Niger Delta.”
NDA added that the struggle in the region did not just start for the sake of bearing arms against the Nigerian government, it stressed that over six decades of economic and constitutional colonialism against the region led to the struggle.
“We ask for understanding on the side of the PANDEF and the general public. The High command of the NDA is only reacting to government’s deliberate attempts to undermine the dialogue process and negotiations”, it added.
