New militant group fulfils threat, blows up pipeline in Delta

The Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate (NDGJM), a new militant group in the Niger Delta, has blown up a pipeline in Delta state.

Aldo Agbalaja, spokesman of the group, disclosed this in a statement, saying the pipeline belongs to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) .

The attack comes one day after the group threatened to strike, based on the alleged decision of the federal government to concentrate on the Ijaw militants in its dialogue plans at the expense of other groups in the region.

“The central operations command of the Niger Delta hereby announces the commencement of demolition and evacuation of the uplands tagged ‘OPERATION ZERO’ to correct the wrongs that have afflicted our people for years, seek justice for the perpetually cheated and protect the identities of our people, who are co-owners of the wealth which Nigeria has forever misappropriated,” the group said.

“As a mark of our seriousness and to prove we are people of our words, at about 0200hours of today; Wednesday, August 10, 2016, operatives of the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Mandate brought down a MAJOR TRUNK/DELIVERY LINE from Isoko to the Eriemu Manifold in Urhobo, belonging to the NPDC/Shoreline resources.

“We would also want to use this medium to give a very strong warning to the operatives of the asset NPDC/SHORELINES not to commence repairs pending when they get signals from us otherwise the inevitable may occur to their personnel as we have earlier warned them to begin evacuating the uplands.

“This is just a glimpse of what is to come, there are several assets already penned down for destruction. This line of action has been made inevitable by an unjust system, which only responds to the violent, to the detriment of the peaceful and law abiding.”