The Nigerian national Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has shut a valve in a pipeline in the Niger Delta to contain a gas leak caused by an explosion, a community leader said, Thursday.
Militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, whose attacks on oil facilities in the southern oil region in the last few months have pushed crude production to a 30-year low according to the International Energy Agency, said on Twitter that it blew up the pipeline.
“At around 4 a.m. we heard the loud noise of an explosion, then a sound like rain so we came out and saw gas gushing out from the NNPC pipeline,” said Nsikak Joshua, a community leader in Ikot-Osute, at the site of the blast.
“There is no fire there now. Engineers …have switched off the valve,” he said.
The Avengers on Monday said they would only negotiate with the government if independent foreign mediators were involved.
The development follows Thursday’s condemnation of continued military action in the region as the Ijaw Youth Council, which represents the Delta region’s main ethnic group, accused the military of raiding local communities and said it expressed “doubt about the sincerity” of the government’s offer to enter in to dialogue with locals to help quell anger in the restive region.
Leadership of the Ijaw Youth Council IYC, a social-cultural platform of the Ijaw in the Niger Delta region described the continuous invasion of Ijaw communities as an act of insincerity in the part of the federal government
IYC also called for genuine dialogue between the militant groups and the federal government than embarked on deployment of military forces to the communities to arrest and intimidate the people
However, the body also condemned the continued attacks on oil installations by militant groups, describing it as sabotage which’ has a great negative effects on our environment and the economy.’
Spokesman of the group, Comrade Eric, in a statement in Yenagoa said, “IYC seriously frowns and condemns the continuous invasion and harassments of Ijaw communities and innocent people by the military under the guise of looking for pipeline vandals.”
Omare said: “The military has no reason to embark on continuous invasion of Ijaw communities and arrest our people in the name of looking for Avengers or pipeline vandals. Our communities and people are peaceful and law abiding people.
“The continuous invasion of Ijaw communities is a demonstration of lack of sincerity on the part of the federal government to genuinely dialogue with the people of the Niger Delta region to address the renewed militancy and issues affecting the region.”
“We wish to state that no meaningful dialogue can take place without sincerity of purpose and confidence in the process by the people of the Niger Delta region and events of the last few days is fast eroding our confidence.
“We call on the military to carry out deep intelligence gathering and stop the unlawful arrest and invasion of Ijaw communities. The arrested youths of Tebujor community, Gbaramatu Clan, Delta State should be released.
Recalled that the military on Wednesday June 15, 2016 invaded Tebujor community in Gbaramatu Clan with sporadic gun shots from both sides of the community and arrested over six youths of the Community.
