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| The Niger Delta Avengers are a new militant group who started attacking oil and gas infrastructure early this year in Nigeria's oil-rich but poor southern swamplands ©Stefan Heunis (AFP) |
Nigerian oil militants on
Saturday denied the government's claim that they were plotting to assassinate a
military officer.
In
a press statement released Friday the Nigerian secret service said it arrested
Selky Torughedi, a suspected member of the militant group the Niger Delta
Avengers.
It
alleged Torughedi was "planning to assassinate" a military officer in
Kaduna, a city some 200 kilometres from Nigeria's capital of Abuja.
The
secret service said it also arrested Christian Oluba "while perfecting
plans to carry out explosive attacks on critical oil and gas pipelines."
But
Avengers spokesman Mudoch Agbinibo described the arrests as
"laughable."
Agbinibo
said the men are "sleeper agents" for the Nigerian secret service.
The
Niger Delta Avengers are a new militant group who started attacking oil and gas
infrastructure early this year in Nigeria's oil-rich but poor southern
swamplands.
Like
previous militant groups before them, the Avengers are fighting for a greater
share of the country's oil revenues and greater political autonomy.
But
the group has stressed it only targets oil infrastructure, not people.
The
sabotage has gored Nigeria's economy -- the central bank governor has said a
recession is "imminent" -- and pushed up the global price of oil.
Restoring
peace to the Niger delta is one way to get the country's economy back on track.
Last
week Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with a delegation from the Niger
delta and issued a press release pledging to "rebuild" the region.
Previous
militants had stopped waging war in the creeks after the introduction of a
costly amnesty program in 2009.
But with Nigeria facing an "imminent" recession, Buhari is hard-pressed to find the funds to continue the scheme and has indicated he is looking at winding it down.
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