Militant group in Nigeria’s oil-producing region,
Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), yesterday threatened to cripple the economy if President Muhammadu
Buhari is re-elected next Saturday.
NDA said in
a statement on Thursday that they hoped to end Buhari’s rule through elections, adding that
the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, is their preferred choice for president.
The militant group had launched its presence in the
country on February 2016, when it carried out an attack on the Trans-Forcados
pipeline, the first subsea attack on oil and gas installations in the country.
The incident, which might have forced Nigeria into
recession, affected oil production by many companies in the country, forcing
Shell to declare force majeure on lifting of Forcados grade of crude oil.
Consequently, the country lost over one million barrels
of crude oil per day from its daily crude output.
However, since its declaration of ceasefire, the
group has not carried out substantial attacks in the region since January 2017.
However, the group in a statement posted on its
website yesterday, allegedly warned that if President Buhari is re-elected,
there would be “a perpetual recession for Nigeria.”
The president’s spokesmen did not immediately
respond to Reuters’ phone calls, emails and text messages seeking further comments
on the issue.
Atiku, the candidate representing the main
opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has proposed to devolve more power
to regions in a policy dubbed: ‘restructuring’ that would give states greater
control over their finances.
It would enable oil-rich states in the South to
retain a greater share of the revenues generated for crude oil production.
According to the alleged statement made by the
group, “We are adopting Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the sole candidate to be voted
for by all the people of the Niger Delta as a result of his political ideology
which is in tandem with our agitation for equitable and fair principles of
federalism.”
The Avengers said if elected, Atiku should start a ‘restructuring
of Nigeria’ within six months to forestall further attacks in the Niger Delta.
“Atiku has said restructuring will begin on the day
he takes office, so he will keep his word, a spokesman for the main opposition
candidate, Paul Ibe, said in a telephone interview.”
He said Atiku repeated his commitment to the policy
in the last few days at a rally in the oil hub city of Port Harcourt in Rivers
State.
In recent times, the Buhari’s government had held
talks with the militants to address their grievances over poverty and oil
pollution in the region for more than a year and this made the group to halt
attacks.
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