The attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta continued Thursday evening with the bombing of a pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
However Sources claim that the incident happened at 7:40pm around the Shalomi Creek in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Multiple security sources in the area confirmed the incident.
No group, including the Niger Delta Avengers, which has claimed responsibility for series of attacks on oil facilities in the past, has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s incident.
The commander, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, Commodore Riami Mohammed, when contacted at about 9:09pm, denied knowledge of the incident. He promised to investigate and get back to our correspondent but had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
But a senior military officer, who spoke on condition anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the issue, confirmed the development.
The source said details of the incident were still sketchy due to the time it took place.
The Niger Delta Avengers had earlier on Thursday threatened to secede from the country, saying that successive governments had been unfair to the people of the Niger Delta region.
It said that what the people of the Niger Delta had been asking for from successive governments in Nigeria was the provision of basic amenities and inclusiveness.
The group called on the international community, especially Britain, France, United States, Russia and China not to allow the region to go the way of Sudan.
In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Murdoch Agbinibo, the NDA maintained that all that successive governments wanted was the flow of crude oil from the region and not its development.
It vowed to remedy the age-long devastation against the region with every means necessary.