Armed militants and a crack team of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) battled in the creeks of Bayelsa State, Saturday, following twin blasts that ruptured pipelines belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and Aiteo.
Aiteo, had in 2014 acquired the 100kn Nembe trunkline from Shell Production Development Company (SPDC) which Shell still depended on to convey crude to its Bonny Export Terminal.
At about 2:15am, Saturday, militants carried out two attacks on the pipelines at two different locations in Nembe and Southern Ijaw local government areas of the state.
It was gathered that the Nembe’s attack occurred at a creek opposite Orubiri community.
The creek warlords, who were said to have accessed their targeted pipeline through speedboats, reportedly blew the oil facility up with the aide of a dynamite.
A civil defence operative who spoke in confidence said another blast happened along a pipeline located at Legosgbene in Southern Ijaw.
He said after the onslaught, the armed militants laid ambush around the area apparently to stop security operatives from accessing the crime scene.
He said: “There are two blasts from Agip pipeline, one from Tebedeba to Brass. It happened opposite Orubiri community in Nembe. Then another blast happened in Legosgbene in Southern Ijaw.
“As I am talking to you now, our team has advanced to the Legosgbene. The perpetrators are there laying ambush. We have been exchanging gunfire to be able to reach the site of the incident to see exactly what happened.
“Our team is also advancing to Orubiri in Nembe with support from the army to ascertain the extant of the damage. Only the team from Nembe is being assisted by the army. For the Southern Ijaw, it is only the civil defence team that is advancing”.
The state Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, confirmed the incident and said the militants were exchanging gunfire with his men at Southern Ijaw.
He said: “We have deployed two teams to the two different locations where Agip pipelines were attacked in the state. Our team heading for the Southern Ijaw location discovered that the militants laid an ambush in the area. We will soon clear the area and ascertain the extent of damage done to the pipeline”.
However, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) claimed responsibility for the attacks through its Twitter handle.
It said: “At about 2:15am on Saturday, avengers blew up Nembe 1, 2, 3 Brass to Bonny Trunkline belonging to Agip and Shell”.
But residents, yesterday, faulted the silence of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shiled, and its inability to halt the ongoing attacks on pipelines in the state.
The JTF has maintained sealed lips since the avengers resumed destruction of oil installations in the region with many persons concluding that the activities of the new militant group had overwhelmed the army.
The Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC), Col. Isa Ado, has consistently failed to respond to enquiries on the violence in the region.
There were, however, fears that the constant attacks on oil installation could worsen the economy of Bayelsa as it would further deplete the derivation from oil revenue accruing to the state.
The state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has not been able to pay backlog of workers’ salaries because of drop in its earnings from oil.
The Bayelsa government condemned yesterday’s attack on two crude trunk lines operated by Aiteo and Agip.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, who confirmed the attack in an email on Saturday afternoon condemned the twin attacks and described it as one too many.
Obuebite lamented the economic impact of destruction of the key oil facility and wondered why the militants would disregard the economy of the state to attack pipelines.
He observed that despite the concerted efforts of the government to move against such atrocities, the militants were still unrepentant in their acts of vandalism.
Obuebite urged the group to make their grievances known to appropriate authorities through dialogue embrace dialogue rather than resorting to violence.
He noted that the activities of the group were adversely affecting Ijaw people whose only source of livelihood is the environment.
The Commissioner also called on security agents to be at alert and devise other means to protect very important oil and gas facilities to forestall further destructions
Obuebite also urged Bayelsa residents, especially persons residing in oil-bearing communities to be very vigilant and work closely with security agents to apprehend anyone or group attempting to undermine key national assets.
But another security source who pleaded anonymity said intelligence at his disposal showed that the militant group was far ahead of the security agencies in the region.
He said it was unfortunate that amid the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari to crush the militant, the group was still carrying out successful attacks on oil installations at different parts of the region.
The source who fumed at the rate of compromise within the security forces in the region accused some senior officers and operatives of collaborating with the group and its sponsors.
He said intelligence gathering had unmasked the identity of the person behind the activities of the group but that the hands of some security agencies were too tied to go after them.
Specifically, the source said a well-known former militant leader solely formed and armed the group.
But the source claimed that some security operatives were already in the payroll of the ex-militant leader sponsoring the NDA adding that the sponsor has an armoury somewhere in the region.
He said: “These compromised officers and operatives are the ones providing information about military strategies to these avengers. This is the reason why the group is ahead of the military in the region.
“Apart from the issue of compromise, Nigeria is not prepared to deal with issues of sabotage in the Niger Delta region. The creeks and waterways are vast. The only way this can be tackled is to set up a Marine Corps like in the United States of America”.
