TheCable

Niger Delta Avengers, the militant group responsible for most of the attacks on oil installations, says it is not intimidated by the claim of the Nigerian air force that it conducted air strikes on militants’ hideout in Arepo.

On Monday, the Nigerian air force released the footage of what was described as a raid on the base of militants in the Arepo area of Ogun state. Although the images of the attack strikes were not shown, parts of the footage indicated that fighter jets released missiles into the creeks.

However, in a statement released on Thursday, Mudoch Agbinibo, spokesperson of the militants, dismissed the raid, saying the military is powerless to stop the avengers’ fight.

“The Nigeria Military is playing some war game on some illegal bunkering camps and showing video of how they carry out the bombardment. That is so unprofessional; don’t think they can intimidate the NDA with those scrap jet bombers,” Agbinibo said.

“They can deploy fourth generation jet-bombers that will not stop us from fighting for our people. We challenge the military to share with the public the militants killed in the so-called sir strike.

“We are very sure they won’t share the images of militants killed because non was killed except innocent women and children.”

ONLY VILLA AGAINST RESTRUCTURING

The statement further saw the Avengers support calls for the restructuring of the country, made prominent by Atiku Abubakar, former vice president.

The Avengers implied that virtually every Nigerian is on the same page regarding restructuring, noting that the federal government has been “playing the deaf ear game”.

“What we are saying is the country should be restructured. The call for restructuring of Nigeria has gone beyond the NDA.

“The only group of persons against the restructuring is the Villa. The federal government should just listen tot the voice of the citizens instead of playing the deaf ear game.”