Another 200,000 barrels of oil were shut in at the weekend as militants attacked a pipeline at Okuntun village in Delta State.
This occurred even as the Joint Task Force (JTF) arrested six of the nine militants who recently hit Agip flow station at Tebidaba in Bayelsa State, in which three of them were killed.
Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC) Co-ordinator, Col. Rabe Abubakar, said the JTF is keeping a 24-hour surveillance on the facility at Okuntun, pledging that those who carried out the attack will be brought to book.
Repair work has begun on the pipeline, which was repaired only last month.
Abubakar gave the names of those arrested over the incident at Tebidaba as Ayebanua Young, 40; Zilaefa Adobu, 20; Imotonghen Inana, 39; Marro Olugbo; Parker Steven; and Ebi Apolos.
Items recovered from them include one GPMG, two AK 47 rifles, one locally made single barrel gun, three AK 47 empty magazines, and four rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition.
On the Okuntun incident, Abubakar quoted JTF Commander, Brigadier General NW Rimtip, as saying that it was the first confrontation in the community.
“We were to employ our professional prowess in managing the crisis without inflicting unnecessary harm or injuries on our brothers, even though the militants, in their own ways, kept on launching unprovoked attacks on the security outfit, thinking the JTF would lose patience and engage them in a full blown war.
“However, such is not in the habit of the force because it is operating based on internal security arrangement which permits minimum force only in self defence in the Niger Delta,” Rimtip explained.
He promised that those arrested will be prosecuted, stressing that ”this matter is very sensitive because of the threat to security; hence we are trying to be in-depth in our investigations in order to get thorough information on the activities of militants.”
Abubakar himself urged communities harbouring militants to pass information to the JTF.
“Our Niger Delta brothers should drop their arms and embrace peace in their own interest, in the interest of the region and of the nation at large, and see peace and security as the panacea to human and infrastructure development.”
He reiterated the JTF’s ”readiness to be extremely proactive” in tackling all sorts of criminalities, including illegal oil bunkering, and enjoined law abiding residents to go about their normal businesses, assuring them of the security of their lives and property.