Sponsors of Niger Delta Avengers: Army makes revelation

The Nigerian army has said that it has information on Niger Delta Avengers and will soon publish names of its sponsors. The group has claimed responsibility for series of bombing of pipelines in the region and vowed to continue to do so until its demands are met. Daily Trust reports that the defence headquarters vowed to deal with the group.

Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar who is the spokesperson of the defence headquarters said security forces were closely watching the activities of the group, vowing that they would regret what they have done. Apart from bombing of pipelines, the group has also claimed responsibility for the death of policemen and soldiers in the region. General Abubakar however expressed optimism in the ability of the armed force to deal with the militants.

“What we are saying is that no miscreant and no militant activities, the world over, have ever succeeded in dislodging national defence forces,” he said.

 “We must ensure that such groups are brought to book, we have the capacity, we are watching all they are doing closely and security agencies are all over the place.

“They (the security agents) are there not to intimidate anybody or harass anybody, but to ensure that there is total protection of life and property because not everybody in the Niger Delta is a militant.

“Those who claimed to be militants and who made pronouncements, the whole world has seen their actions…we are doing everything possible to ensure that we get those involved.”

The spokesperson said those behind the group will soon meet their waterloo

“They are a group of frustrated individuals, working for some people who very soon everybody would come to know.

“The Defence Headquarters (is) working with other security agencies (and) would not allow some clique, because there are no militants now, the militants have enjoyed amnesty and have been given special trainings.”

“We are synergizing with other security agencies, with community leaders and individuals to ensure that we extract information which would be useful to us. In a short time, they would regret what they have done.
“We are not hoping to deploy the use of hard power, unless it becomes extremely necessary. As I said not all of them are militants, even though we have all the information about them,” he said.

He condemned the killing of the soldiers in the region and said they were there to make peace

“The soldiers are there for the protection of national assets, so why kill them, we are in total obedience to international best practices and that’s why we take cognizance of the conventions that Nigeria is a signatory to in the execution of most of our activities.

 “Unless it becomes extremely beyond us, or beyond our operational exigencies, then we would employ other means, which are still within the mandate of our operations,” he said

Meanwhile, the Nigerian army arrested five suspected members of the Niger Delta Avengers following the bombing of Chevron pipeline in Warri South-West local government area of Delta state.

Army sources said the suspected persons were transported to the military facility just as fierce-looking soldiers raided Oporoza, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom in search of militants bombing pipelines in the state.