President Muhamamdu Buhari has cancelled his expected trip to the Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.
Buhari was expected to launch a much-delayed programme to clean up areas heavily polluted by oil exploration and production.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will now represent the President at the event.
The clean up of the heavily polluted Ogoni land was recommended by the United Nation Environmental Programme, UNEP, in its report in 2011.
Residents in the southern swamp areas, where oil giants such as Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron operate, have for years complained about the oil industry’s pollution and about economic marginalisation by the government.
Some have taken up arms, and a surge in attacks on energy installations has cut Nigeria’s oil output to a 20-year low.
A militant group called Niger Delta Avengers, which staged several attacks in recent weeks, has accused Buhari, a Muslim from the north, ignoring local problems by having never visited the Christian region in the south.
The group on Wednesday had warned President Muhammadu Buhari against visiting the Niger Delta.
The militants told Buhari to sign his death warrant before coming to the creeks and further said that any representative sent will also be killed.
It would be recalled that President Buhari at the last minute also cancelled his trip to Lagos State to commission some state projects.