Militants attack Chanomi platform, ship

Ijaw militants on Tuesday continued their onslaught on oil facilities in the Niger Delta by attacking the Chanomi Creek manifold and a tanker ship in Delta State.

The attacks, which came barely three days after the militants damaged the Odidi tie-in manifold, coincided with feelers that the Federal Government might approve military action to deal with the worsening security situation in the Niger Delta.

Our correspondents reported that the Chanomi manifold in Warri South-West Local Government Area serves as the point where all the flow lines from the Shell Petroleum Development Company�s fields tie-in for conveyance of crude oil to Forcados Loading Terminal.

It was learnt that the militants, who operated unhindered, blew up the manifold with dynamite.

A reliable JTF source, who confirmed the incident, said that fire was still raging as at 9pm.

Contacted, the SPDC�s Corporate External Relations Manager, Mr. Don Boham, said, �There is no official confirmation of the incident.�

Shortly after the Chanomi incident, another set of militants stormed a tanker ship and made away with a large sum of money.

The militants, in an e-mail message, said, �The tanker ship was intercepted by a patrol. No one was hurt or kidnapped.�

They claimed that the captain of the tanker ship parted with N500,000 as a �goodwill token� during the encounter.

But a shipping industry source put the sum at N2million.

In Abuja, our correspondents learnt that the Federal Government was �considering taking decisive and drastic actions,� to tackle the crisis in the region.

A top government source said on Tuesday, that President Olusegun Obasanjo had put the governors of seven states on the red alert.

The governors are: Chief Jonathan Goodluck (Bayelsa); Dr. Peter Odili (Rivers); Chief James Ibori (Delta); Obong Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom); Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo); and Mr. Donald Duke (Cross River).

Our source said that Obasanjo�s signal to the governors was necessitated by a report from the State Security Service on the situation in the region.

But the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Niger Delta warned against the use of force in restoring peace in the region.

Rather, they proposed a stakeholders meeting that could also restore confidence in the militants.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta, Senator Patrick Osakwe, and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Mr. Olaka Nwogu, made this position known at a news conference in Abuja.

They said, �We think that the solution to the Niger Delta problems can certainly not be militarising the area.

�There is the need to provide security but certainly not the military option. It is against this background that we urge the Federal Government to exercise restraint and push dialogue as the way out.

�For those who have resorted to kidnapping oil workers, we do not see it as the right part at all.�

Also on Tuesday, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Richard Gozney, promised to be present during negotiations with the militants for the release of the nine foreign oil workers kidnapped on February 18.

The promise is however with a proviso: An invitation must come from a legitimate authority and not from the militants.

�Naturally, if I receive a request from legitimate Nigerian authorities, I stand ready to do whatever they want me to do to help to secure the safe release of these hostages and to try to prevent further kidnappings in the Niger-Delta,� Gozney told our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday.

A Briton is one of the nine hostages.

The militants had demanded an assurance that the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell, and Gozney, should be present during negotiations.

They also requested for a written undertaking from the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Alexander Ogomudia, that the Ijaw communities would no longer be attacked by the military.

Governor Ibori, at a news conference in Warri, said the committee set up to secure the release of the hostages, was making progress.

Adding that the expatriates would regain their freedom �in the shortest possible time,� he said that the conditions demanded by the militants, particularly that of assurance of cessation of hostilities had been met.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has turned to China for military hardware to protect oil facilities in the troubled Niger Delta.

The recourse to China for arms, according to Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, follows the failure of the United States to help Nigeria in protecting the oil sector.

Abubakar, in an interview with the Financial Times, published on Monday, said the US had been too slow in assisting in protecting the Niger Delta from the spate of attacks by militants.

Nigeria, the eighth-largest oil exporter, is the fifth largest oil supplier to the US.

According to estimates from military analysts, Nigeria needs 200 boats to guard the Niger Delta from attacks on oil facilities and abduction of foreign oil workers.

Although Washington has offered technical assistance and training and provided four old coastal patrol boats, it is reluctant to meet the Federal Government�s demand, citing allegations of a high level of corruption in the Nigerian security forces and human rights abuses.

But Abubakar said talks with the US over security plans for the region did not �appear to be moving as fast as the situation is unfolding� and Nigeria was instead sourcing military equipment elsewhere.

The Financial Times quoted a senior Nigerian naval official as saying that Nigeria had �felt let down� by the reluctance of the US military to offer more support and that the Chinese boats were �a very welcome development.�

Nigeria has also ordered 35 smaller high-speed patrol boats from a US company but fewer than half have been received, said a security analyst.

The Director of the Africa programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Mr. Stephen Morrison, said the Pentagon had been �hot and cold� about providing military assistance to Nigeria because of difficulties in working with the Nigerian military.

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