A Niger Delta militant group, ‘The Supreme Egbesu Liberation Fighters’, has threatened to launch attacks in major cities.
The militants said they would target infrastructure in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja and commercial hub, Lagos.
The threat was issued in a video posted on Tuesday by Africa Independent Television (AIT).
It showed a number of men dressed in military uniform with covered faces. They danced around and brandished rifles, RPGs, HMGs, and GPMGs.
The group accused the federal government of marginalising the South-South region. It also condemned the amnesty programme.
The militants lamented that oil-producing states had no schools, no potable water, no light, no hospital and access roads.
They decried the state of the Ogoni clean-up project, adding that government places politics above the people.
The militants demanded resource control for the South-South, the same way the federal government allowed Zamfara to control gold mining.
“The Nigerian government over the years has decided to handle the issues of the Niger Delta with kid gloves. They have betrayed the struggle and have left the people to their fate.
“Rather, what is visible is the presence of military gunboat and the numerous military personnel dispersed to the Niger Delta, who are killing, raping, and maiming the innocent people of the region”, one of the militants read from a paper.
The group noted that Nigeria’s territorial waters is being secured by an Israeli company, despite competent local hands.
“We are coming to destroy all your infrastructure in Abuja and Lagos…we will destroy the oil facilities both onshore and offshore in no distant time, we will be seen to be crippling the Nigerian economy.”
The militants nominated ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, and Edmund Daukoru, a former Minister and traditional ruler, to mediate between it and the federal government.
