Apparently undeterred by President Muhammadu Buhari’s order to the military to crush them, militants under the aegis of the new group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), yesterday demanded some conditions that should be met by the Federal Government in order to ensure peace in the Niger Delta.

The group which claimed responsibility for the recent bombings of the Chevron valve facility, and the 48-inch trunk line supplying crude oil to Warri refinery has declared that it will “crumble the economy” unless its demands are met.

The militants demanded the immediate implementation of the report of the 2014 national conference or the country would break up. They insisted that the ownership of oil blocks must reflect 60 per cent for the oil-producing people and 40 per cent for others and that the nation’s only maritime university located in “the most appropriate and befitting place Okerenkoko must start the 2015/2016 academic session immediately.” They asked the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to apologise to the Ijaw and the entire Niger Delta people for his “careless and reckless statement about the siting of the university.”

According to them, the Ogoniland and indeed all oil-polluted areas in the Niger Delta must be cleaned up and compensation paid to all oil-producing communities.

Sympathising with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the NDA demanded that the leader of the group, Nnamdi Kanu, should be released unconditionally as a court has ruled. It said that the Niger Delta Amnesty programme must be well funded and allowed to continue to function effectively.

Faulting the Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign on the grounds that it is skewed in favour of his political associates, the militants said that all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who are indicted in any corruption-related cases should be made to face trial like members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The group asked Buhari, the Department of State Services and Timipre Sylva to apologise to the people of the Niger Delta region and the family of the late former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, for killing him “with intimidation and harassment because of his party affiliation.”

It warned oil multi-nationals and foreign investors to observe this ultimatum, as their business interest in the country must be the first target of attacks.

In a related development, another militant group, the Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF), has said it is not afraid of President Muhammadu Buhari as he “is not God” that the “boys in the creek” would be afraid of.

The group, which benefitted from the amnesty programme of former President Goodluck Jonathan, said as at the time they surrendered their weapons, they told the world that bombing of pipelines was not over.

NDLF asked the president to sack Paul Boroh, coordinator of the presidential amnesty programme, if he wants to be in control of the “current oil war.”

“We do not condemn the current bombing because when we surrendered, we told the world that bombing of pipelines was not over yet,” Mark Anthony, spokesman of the group, said in a statement.

“Those bombing pipelines in Delta State should not behave like cowards if they are truly fighting the interest of Niger Delta.

“They should be bold enough to come out. When we were bombing, our leader General John Togo did not hide his face. We dealt with the Nigerian army, and we were not hiding.

“They should not hide their identity. Buhari is not God and they should not be scared of him. JTF should not attack and arrest innocent people in Ijaw communities, they should go for the real saboteurs.”

•Adapted from stories in The Guardian and Daily Sun. Photo shows Niger Delta militants.

Update news