New militant group threatens to blow up Utorogun gas plant

A secessionist group, Utorogun Liberation Movement, ULM, surfaced, Thursday, in Delta State, vowing to destroy the Utorogun Gas Plant, Ughelli, which supplies gas to Egbin Power Station, Lagos, and other facilities under Oil Mining Lease, OML 34 in Ughelli South Local Government Area of the state.

The agitators operating in alliance with another group, 'Outgas Force,' in a proclamation by its leader, Gen K Omoudu, addressed to the host communities in OML 34, said:, 'My good people of Utorogun community, Otu-Jeremi, Otor-Udu, Iwkrekan, Ekakpamre and all oil and pipeline communities within this region, this is the voice of ULM in collaboration with Outgas Force.'

'It is a secessionist move. The awareness of things happening in our environment is a means to outline our cause of action. The awareness is an agitation for economic balance. We have a common enemy, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC and ND Western who hate your progress and wish you died in poverty.

'They threaten our stability, disregard us. This area is the heart of hydrocarbon industries in Nigeria and other countries responsible for a huge chunk of the nation's oil earnings. The question concerning how many barrels of oil and gas this our field produces remain unanswered, our hopes far from what we are witnessing,' it said.

It added: 'If we fail to fight, we will face a precarious future. The door is widely open for anybody within this region to join the exercise, text your names and community to these numbers -08029936321, 08074237107. Do not call; you will receive text of days of meetings few days from now.'

Residents of Otu-Jeremi, Otor-Udu, Iwkrekan, Ekakpamre and other communities, who woke up to see the streamer notices were seen discussing the development in hushed tone. – Vanguard.