A new militant group in the Niger Delta region, code-named: ‘Bayan-Men‘, has blown up an oil facility operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, (NAOC), in Ogba-Egbema-Andoni local government area of Rivers State.
The angry militants, who destroyed the oil well OB5 (Obiavu-5) in the area, accused the oil firm of failing to deal directly with the host communities insisting that they were fighting for justice for their people.
The self-styled commander of the Bayan-Men said the company refused to allow the people to benefit from their operations in the area, adding that the firm was neck-deep in divide and rule.
He said, The only thing we want Agip to do is to deal directly with the 27 communities of Omoku, according to the Federal Government resolution”.
According to him, We dont want Agip to be negotiating with anybody. They should deal with the communities. If they continue like this, what we have done now is small to what we will do if they continue. They should keep us together and treat us as one. They should treat communities individually.
We are not interested in killing anybody. Our interest is that they must do the right thing or else we will keep blowing up their facilities. We are giving them 24 hours to start the process of doing the right thing.
Confirming the development, the Coordinator-General, Omoku Community Youth Leaders Forum (OCYLF), Ekeuku Pureheart, said that the development came from Agips failures to obey the demands of the people.
Pureheart said Agip should recognise the various communities that make up Omoku, as ‘the boys’ were threatening to carry out more attacks.
He noted that Agip was still struggling to put out the ravaging fire on the facility.
