NDLF claims responsibility for attack on OML 30, in Ughelli, Delta State

The Niger Delta Liberators Force (NDLF) has claimed responsibility for the double attacks on crude oil facilities belonging to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Ltd (NPDC) at OML 30 lines at Emevor, Isoko North Local Government Area and Otu-Jeremi in Ughelli South Local Government Area of the state which occurred on last Friday and early hours of Saturday morning.

The group made this claim in a statement released and signed by one ‘General’ FlameThrower on Sunday.

NDLF said that the twin attack on the facilities was an attempt to get the attention of the Nigerian government and the Delta State government to what it described as a disregard of its ethnic nationalities by the governments in the award of pipeline surveillance contracts both at the in-fields and the general surveillance.

It said, “Our decision to attack crude oil installations of the government located in Emevor, Isoko North Local Government Area, and Otu-Jeremi in Ughelli South Local Government in the early hours of Friday, June 2, 2023, and Saturday, June 3, 2023, is to draw the attention of the federal government and the Delta state government to the plights of Isoko Nation which we have enumerated below.

“Isoko Nation is the second-place crude oil was discovered in Nigeria in commercial quantity after Oloibiri in Bayelsa State in 1958. Since the beginning of crude oil exploration in the region until now, pipeline facilities have not been tampered with.

“In all, our peaceful existence has been interpreted as weakness and foolishness, hence, no viable federal presence in terms of development is noticeable in Isoko Land.

“Isoko and Urhobo Nations have been sabotaged and highly disregarded in the pipeline surveillance contract awarded by the federal government and subcontracted to other ethnic nationalities.

The Niger-Delta militant group however insisted that the Isoko and Urhobo Nations are not a conquered territory adding that the ethnic nationalities cannot be subservient to other ethnic groups in the region or in Nigeria.

The group also chided Mr. Ali Muhammed Zahra, Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), and Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for awarding the infield pipeline surveillance contract in the Isoko and Urhobo communities to the Tantila Security Services Limited, allegedly owned by High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, whom they claimed is an Ijaw man.

The group said, “This move, we have interpreted as an attempt to groom inter-ethnic crisis in the region. The Niger Delta Region is multi-ethnic, and no ethnic group is superior to others.

“The operating International Oil Companies in OML 30/ 34, namely Heritage Oil and Shoreline are secretly employing staff without cognizance of the Local Content Act.

“Where employment is offered to host communities, only unskilled labour suffices. This action we see as an insult to the intellectual property of our people whose vast majority are well-schooled. We demand the details of the total workforce of the IOCs operating in our region,” the militant group said.

The NDLF therefore called on President Bola Tinubu as well as the Delta state governor, Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, to take decisive official actions to resolve these issues, to forestall further devastating attacks on oil facilities in Isoko and Urhobo nations, warning that the group has the spread to put to stop all crude oil exploration activities in Isoko and Urhobo lands.