Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta on Sunday claimed responsibility for the destruction of Oil Well 62 belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Ewellesuo, Nembe Local Government of Bayelsa State.
The militant group said the attack, which occurred on Saturday about 1am, was part of its Operation Hurricane Exodus.
In an e-mail by its spokesman, Gbomo Jomo, MEND announced its readiness to commence fresh hostilities to save Christians from Boko Haram violence in an operation codenamed Operation Barbarossa.
MEND said Operation Barbarossa would begin on May 31 and would target mosques and Islamic clerics.
The attack on the well head occurred barely a week after MEND claimed responsibility for the killing of 12 policemen along the Azuzuama waterways in Southern Ijaw Local Government of the state after an earlier threat that security operatives took with a pinch of salt.
The Niger Delta has suffered massive oil pollution in the past with oil exploration companies doing little or nothing to assuage their pains. In fact, the Nembe community had raised the alarm over massive oil spillage from well 62 and has reportedly accused SPDC of failing to clamp the spill points to avoid further environmental damage.
The Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee of Nembe Kingdom, Mr. Nengi James, said he appealed to the people to remain calm.
“Since I became Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee in the kingdom, I have witnessed over 10 massive oil spillages. And all these spillages have never been cleaned up by the oil company.”
MEND however claimed responsibility for the spill and said it had concluded plans to rescue Christians from Boko Haram insurgency.
“On behalf of the hapless Christian population in Nigeria, The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta will from Friday, May 31, 2013, embark on a crusade to save Christianity in Nigeria from annihilation.
“The bombings of mosques, hajj camps, Islamic instututions, large congregations in islamic events and assasinations of clerics that propagate doctrines of hate, will form the core mission of this crusade code named Operation Barbarossa,” the statement said.
Yet again, the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta codenamed Operation Pulo Shield has debunked claims by the MEND that it was responsible for renewed hostilities in the region.
According to JTF’s Media Coordinator, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, “impostors and a bundle of never-do-wells” were hiding under MEND, which he said had gone into extinction after the amnesty deal, to perpetrate criminal activities in the region.
He also asked members of the public to disregard claims by MEND that it had designed a special operation in sympathy for the Christians.
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