The Federal Government has given insight into why it would not negotiate with the Niger Delta Avengers, in spite of the militant group’s ruthless precision attacks on critical oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta.
The group, which is the new face of militancy in the region, has vowed to continue carrying out acts of sabotage on oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta in an effort to cripple Nigeria’s economy, until its demands are met.
SEE: Niger Delta Avengers List 10-Point Demands From FG To Stop Bombings
Speaking a day after three more trunk lines in Bayelsa and Rivers States were blown up by the militant group, Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) said that they (Avengers) are not freedom fighters but economic warriors, who are fighting for their own private pockets.
Professor Osinbajo, who delivered the second foundation lecture of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo state entitled “The Future is here earlier than we thought”, declared that “the so called avengers are not freedom fighters but fighting for their own economic benefits. They are avenging for their private pocket and that is why government is not talking with them”.
He, however, said that the Federal Government has concluded arrangements to tackle the menace of pipeline vandalism in the Niger/Delta region.
While condemning the activities of the militants, who claimed responsibility for the vandalization of petroleum pipelines in the Niger/Delta region, Vice President Osinbajo said “the previous government neglected the region for several years, hence the current challenges in the region. The Federal Government has however put machinery in motion to curtail the activities of Niger/Delta Avengers”.
He also lamented that the activities of the avengers were responsible for the epileptic power supply in the country as well as the inability of state governors to pay workers’ salaries due to the low revenue generated in the oil sector as a result of the attack on pipelines.
