The hopes of uninterrupted operations by the oil firms in the Niger Delta might have been dashed as an Ijaw group on Monday threatened to disrupt their activities in the region.
The group, Warri Ijaw Peace Monitoring Group, vowed to attack the business interests of the oil companies in the creeks of the region in retaliation for fresh attacks on Ijaw communities by the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, Operation Restore Hope.
The position by the WIPMG, was contained in an electronic message sent to our correspondent by its Chairman, Chief Patrick Bigha, on Monday.
To this end, the group asked the foreign nationals working for the firms in the creeks of the region to flee, adding that their safety could no longer be guaranteed in the area.
The group said, “We wish to inform all expatriates and multinational oil companies that the Niger Delta is not safe for them as any move by the Federal Government and its military to attack our communities will be visited on their business interests in the creeks of the Niger Delta.”
The group also scored President Umaru Yar’Adua low, adding that his almost two- year leadership of Nigeria was a huge failure, especially in the Niger Delta.
It said, “We wish to state that the President Yar‘Adua administration has failed the people of the Niger Delta as it has not been able to find pragmatic solutions to the crisis in the region. The military option the administration has opted is counter productive as it has led to genocide of the goose that lays the golden egg.
“We want to make bold to condemn the re-branding agenda of the Federal Government. There is no way Nigeria could be re-branded without equity, justice, fair play and peace in the Niger Delta. Therefore we call on the international community to ignore the re-branding campaign.”