The Niger Delta militant group threatened on Monday to step up attacks on oil
facilities in the Niger Delta if the president pursues a military
campaign, casting a shadow over peace talks between the government and
groups due to start on Tuesday.

In
written responses to Reuters questions, Mudoch Agbinibo, spokesman for
the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), said President Muhammadu Buhari must
“come down from…his iron-horse of ethnic and religious bigotry”.

On
Tuesday, Buhari is due to meet Niger Delta leaders and representatives
of various militant groups in Abuja, the first time since the government
began a dialogue in June to end a wave of attacks on oil facilities
that has crippled output.

The
stakes are high as the OPEC member badly needs peace in the impoverished
swamp land to bring back oil output, which at its lowest point halved
from 2.2 million barrels per day in January, to drag Africa’s biggest
economy out of recession.

Analysts
say the NDA are the region’s most sophisticated militants and receive
help from inside oil firms advising which facility to attack. Their
divers blew up a Shell undersea pipeline, which stopped up to 300,000
bpd overnight.

Agbinibo
said the group was “determined to gradually grind the flow of our oil”
if Buhari’s administration opted to continue its military campaign in
the southern region.

Buhari
ordered a heightened military presence in the restive region in May
which saw the introduction of patrols in remote communities which has
stoked anger in the last few months.

An
offensive targeting militant camps launched in August led to the deaths
of five people and the arrests of 23 others. The death of an ex-militant
leader’s 84-year-old father due to injuries allegedly sustained in an
army raid marked a flashpoint.

“Any
plan of the Nigerian government thinking of exploiting the resources of
the Niger Delta to fund…government without our genuine involvement
will be a very tall dream,” said the spokesman who carries the title of
“Brigadier General”.

There was no immediate comment from the Nigerian government.

The
comments come comes days after the Avengers claimed a strike on a
Chevron pipeline last week – only the second since saying in August they
would cease hostilities to pursue talks. They said it was carried out
as a warning to oil companies.

The
Avengers want a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth to be directed to
the impoverished southern swampland Delta region, which produces most of
the crude oil whose sales account for around two-thirds of government
revenue.

The
NDA spokesman said the group was a “liberation movement, poised towards
the control of our resources” that would “pay appropriate tax to the
central government”.

The
secretive group had so far avoided talking to foreign media, announcing
only attacks and often lengthy and rambling statements resembling
lectures on Nigerian history on social media and its website.

There
is no phone number to call them, only an anonymous email account.
Agbinibo has previously sent details of attacks directly to Reuters
which have later appeared on the group’s website – its primary means of
communication.