Children Missing as Soldiers Open Fire on Oil Communities

Women and children are missing as soldiers launched a pre-dawn attack on

Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State, hometown of wanted ex-militant leader,

Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo.
This followed the bombing of strategic gas and crude pipelines belonging

to Shell and Agip on Saturday in an increasingly fierce campaign that has

chopped Nigeria’s oil production in half, militants and residents said.

A new militant group, calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers, reported in

social media that they had dynamited the trunkline linking the

Dutch-British Shell company’s Bonny terminal and the Brass export terminal

of the Italian company Agip.
Eye-witness accounts said women and children are missing as soldiers

opened fire on the community forcing residents especially women and

children to jump into the swamp in panic while others sought refuge in

forests.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that soldiers invaded the community Saturday

in commando style and have vowed to occupy the communities indefinitely.

Nigerian Army have poor human rights records
A local community leader Eke-Spiff Erempagamo confirmed the attack.

An indigene of Gbaramatu Kingdom and human rights lawyer, Alowei Cleric,

said it was the height of governmet’s inhumanity to the plight of

citizens under its protection.
“The attack on the peace-loving ancient town, the headquarters of the

Gbaramatu Kingdom, is an abuse of the traditional institution of the

Gbaramatu people. The unprovoked attack on the oil-rich, but pauperised

shantytown at a time the Federal Government is engaging stakeholders in

the region to dialogue with the militants shows that government is not

sincere in exploring peaceful means to resolve the crisis.

“This is the height of government inhumanity to the citizens under its

protection. What is the offence of Oporoza people to warrant this

invasion? This is a declaration of war against the people of the Gbaramatu

Kingdom whose offence is to have oil in their land.

“President Buhari should know that he couldn’t win this war with the use

of force. The military action will only worsen the situation, as some

other miscreants will take this gesture, as an excuse to unleash mayhem on

the oil facilities. What the soldiers are doing will not do the country

any good. We call on President Buhari to call his marauding soldiers to

order,” he said.
Nigeria’s oil production had already fallen from a projected 2.2 million

barrels a day to 1.4 million barrels before the latest attacks on the oil

industry in southern Nigeria, including three within the past week on

facilities of the U.S. oil major Chevron.
Several companies have evacuated some of their workers.

The Niger Delta Avengers has given the oil companies a May 31 deadline to

leave Nigeria’s southern, oil-producing Niger Delta.

“Watch out something big is about to happen and it will shock the whole

world,” the Avengers warned Saturday, addressing international and

indigenous oil companies and Nigeria’s military.

In a surprise development, community leaders and non-violent activists

have recently sided with the militants, saying residents of the Niger

Delta support their demands for a greater share of the country’s oil

wealth. Oil pollution has destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of

thousands of farmers and fishermen.
The militants are also angry that the government is winding down a 2009

amnesty program that had paid 30,000 militants to guard installations they

once attacked.
Nigeria’s government has deployed thousands of soldiers to defend oil

installations.
But the militants announced on Friday that they had blown up a state-owned

gas and crude line, noting it was “heavily guarded by the military.”

Thousands of civilians have fled the fallout from the military campaign,

though the army denies reports that uninvolved civilians have been killed.

Supporters of Nigeria’s government and the southern based opposition party

are accusing each other of funding the Avengers.
This year’s renewed campaign targeting the oil industry in the Niger Delta

have caused Nigeria to lose its position as Africa’s largest oil producer,

with Angola having taken the leading role since March.

With additional agency reports