Source: Daily Champion (Lagos)

December 22, 2005



By Tony Ita Etim, Sopuruchi Onwuka, and Vincent Adekoye

Lagos/Port Harcourt/Benin

BARELY 24 hours after gunmen blew up oil pipeline in Rivers State, claiming eight lives, another pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) exploded and went up in flames at Ehor,Uhunwode Local Government of Edo State yesterday after an alleged attack by suspected militants.

This came even as Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said it had shut down its Bonny Flow stations as part of measures to contain raging fire which resulted from the attack on its crude oil pipeline in Andoni local government of Rivers State.

The measure by SPDC coincided with the emergence of a new militant group known as "the Martyrs Brigade," which vowed to pursue armed struggle in its quest to liberate the people of Niger Delta region.

It claimed to be a splinter group from the Mujahid Dokubo Asari-led Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF).

Confirming the explosion at Ehor, spokesman for the Edo State Police Command, Mr. Peter Ogboi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) said news of the incident was conveyed to him in a signal from Ehor Divisional Police, Officer.

He said no life was lost during the incident. The pipeline which is located on the Benin-Auchi road convey petroleum products from Warri to northern parts of the country.

But speaking with Daily Champion on telephone an official of SPDC who preferred anonymity said production of 10,000 barrels of crude oil per day (10kbd) was deferred as a result of the closure of Bonny Flow station.

According to him, the company in collaboration with joint venture partners and regulatory agencies was seeking remedy to the incident and similar acts of sabotage.

The shut down increased Nigeria's crude oil output cut back from initial 170kbd to 180kbd, translating to increase in the nation's revenue loss from $10.2 million (N1.33 billion) to $10.8 million or N1.4 billion per day.

Apart from the damage on oil production facilities and the resulting spill on the environment, Shell said, there were no human casualties as claimed by the local community.

A Shell source said the company as at yesterday could not confirm any human casualty or death toll arising from the incident.

Andoni local government chairman, Mr. Monwan Etete, had claimed on Tuesday that youths in speed boats had warned villagers to flee their homes Monday night, just before the incident.

The fire continued to billow yesterday even as Shell and her contractors were still studying the best way to put it out.

The company's helicopters and boats were hovering around the fire scene, 50 meters from residential quarters where unconfirmed reports had it that nine fatal victims had been identified.

Meanwhile, spokesperson for the Martyrs Brigade, Cynthia Whyte, in a statement circulated in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, capital said the group left the NDPVF following indications the parent body had compromised on the struggle for self determination of the Niger Delta people.

The group declared it would continue to vandalise oil installation and establish illegal crude oil export as an industry of its own in the region.

"Today, we took out 200,000 barrels of oil per day from Shells production this year. Since the produced oil cannot provide any economic and social benefit," the group stated, adding "more of such sabotage shall be carried out with great pace."

The group declared it would no longer recognise patience and tolerance as virtues to imbibe in its struggle for self determination.

All indigenes of Niger Delta, the group said "must come out and resist the enemy wherever they are make life uncomfortable, sabotage facilities, ground operations, make the region insecure until they vacate the area."

The statement declared that every wilful collaborator of the Nigerian state is an enemy and President Olusegun Obasanjo must be made to see that there is a limit to which he can subject a people to ridicule and exploitation.

The group said yesterday marked the beginning of the liberation of all Niger Delta people and a beginning of a painful period while all Niger Deltans must make sacrifice towards the realization of a free and more empowered Niger Delta.

"We must no more be made to beg for bread when we own the bakery. We cannot beg for jobs when we own the existence of the industry. This is a clarion call to all of you to offer your life so that you may gain it. This bondage must not be transferred to our children." stated the group.