{"id":49704,"date":"2016-05-29T15:42:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-29T14:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=49704"},"modified":"2016-05-29T15:44:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T14:44:34","slug":"women-children-missing-soldiers-open-fire-oil-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/women-children-missing-soldiers-open-fire-oil-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Women, Children Missing as Soldiers Open Fire on Oil Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026Militants wreck Shell, Agip pipelines<\/em><\/p>\n

Women and children are missing as soldiers launched a pre-dawn attack on<\/p>\n

Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State, hometown of wanted ex-militant leader,
\nGovernment Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo.<\/p>\n

This followed the bombing of strategic gas and crude pipelines belonging
\nto Shell and Agip on Saturday in an increasingly fierce campaign that has
\nchopped Nigeria’s oil production in half, militants and residents said.<\/p>\n

A new militant group, calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers, reported in
\nsocial media that they had dynamited the trunkline linking the
\nDutch-British Shell company’s Bonny terminal and the Brass export terminal
\nof the Italian company Agip.<\/p>\n

Eye-witness accounts said\u00a0 women and children are missing as soldiers
\nopened fire on the community forcing residents especially women and
\nchildren to jump into the swamp in panic\u00a0 while others sought refuge in
\nforests.<\/p>\n

Pointblanknews.com gathered that soldiers invaded the community Saturday
\nin commando style and have vowed to occupy the communities indefinitely.<\/p>\n

Nigerian Army have poor human rights records<\/p>\n

A local community leader Eke-Spiff Erempagamo confirmed the attack.<\/p>\n

An indigene of Gbaramatu Kingdom and human rights lawyer,\u00a0 Alowei Cleric,
\nsaid it was the height of governmet’s inhumanity to the plight of
\ncitizens under its protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attack on the peace-loving ancient town, the headquarters of the
\nGbaramatu Kingdom, is an abuse of the traditional institution of the
\nGbaramatu people. The unprovoked attack on the oil-rich, but pauperised
\nshantytown at a time the Federal Government is engaging stakeholders in
\nthe region to dialogue with the militants shows that government is not
\nsincere in exploring peaceful means to resolve the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the height of government inhumanity to the citizens under its
\nprotection. What is the offence of Oporoza people to warrant this
\ninvasion? This is a declaration of war against the people of the Gbaramatu
\nKingdom whose offence is to have oil in their land.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Buhari should know that he couldn\u2019t win this war with the use
\nof force. The military action will only worsen the situation, as some
\nother miscreants will take this gesture, as an excuse to unleash mayhem on
\nthe oil facilities. What the soldiers are doing will not do the country
\nany good. We call on President Buhari to call his marauding soldiers to
\norder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s oil production had already fallen from a projected 2.2 million
\nbarrels a day to 1.4 million barrels before the latest attacks on the oil
\nindustry in southern Nigeria, including three within the past week on
\nfacilities of the U.S. oil major Chevron.<\/p>\n

Several companies have evacuated some of their workers.<\/p>\n

The Niger Delta Avengers has given the oil companies a May 31 deadline to
\nleave Nigeria’s southern, oil-producing Niger Delta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch out something big is about to happen and it will shock the whole
\nworld,\u201d the Avengers warned Saturday, addressing international and
\nindigenous oil companies and Nigeria’s military.<\/p>\n

In a surprise development, community leaders and non-violent activists
\nhave recently sided with the militants, saying residents of the Niger
\nDelta support their demands for a greater share of the country’s oil
\nwealth. Oil pollution has destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of
\nthousands of farmers and fishermen.<\/p>\n

The militants are also angry that the government is winding down a 2009
\namnesty program that had paid 30,000 militants to guard installations they
\nonce attacked.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s government has deployed thousands of soldiers to defend oil
\ninstallations.<\/p>\n

But the militants announced on Friday that they had blown up a state-owned
\ngas and crude line, noting it was \u201cheavily guarded by the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of civilians have fled the fallout from the military campaign,
\nthough the army denies reports that uninvolved civilians have been killed.<\/p>\n

Supporters of Nigeria’s government and the southern based opposition party
\nare accusing each other of funding the Avengers.<\/p>\n

This year’s renewed campaign targeting the oil industry in the Niger Delta
\nhave caused Nigeria to lose its position as Africa’s largest oil producer,
\nwith Angola having taken the leading role since March.<\/p>\n

With additional agency reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026Militants wreck Shell, Agip pipelines 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen, Children Missing as Soldiers Open Fire on Oil Communities - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/women-children-missing-soldiers-open-fire-oil-communities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women, Children Missing as Soldiers Open Fire on Oil Communities - 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