AGAIN| Militants launch 'Operation Crocodile Tears' - blow up NNPC subsidiary’s pipeline in Delta

In what appears to be a mockery of the military’s recently launched “Opera­tion Crocodile Smile” in the Niger Delta region, militants in the region have launched their own version, tagged: “Operation Crocodile Tears.”
The militants, under the ae­gis of Niger Delta Greenland Justice Movement (NDGJM), also launched a massive attack on the Ogor-Oteri major deliv­ery line of the Nigerian Petro­leum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Ni­gerian National Petroleum Cor­poration (NNPC) and Shore­lines Petroleum in the state.
The militants reported­ly blew up the facility early on Tuesday morning.

In a statement issued by NDGJM Leader, “Gen” Aldo Agbalaja, the group claimed re­sponsibility for the attack, say­ing its team launched it at about 3.00 hours.
According to Agbalaja, the attack was “executed by our Up­root Team B”, adding that “we have also launched ‘Operation Crocodile Tears’ since the mil­itary had come up with ‘Operation Crocodile Smile’”.
The group, believed to be dominated by militants of Urho­bo stock, said that the issue of injustice against the people of the oil-rich region has not been addressed.
Agbalaja said: “Recent de­velopments around our region, especially as it concerns the is­sue of justice and our inaliena­ble right to protect our heritage, have proven us right all along. Now, it has become clearer who is serious about getting justice for our people and who has been using the name of the region and the destinies of all our peoples to feather their nests, raising dusts merely to harass the Nigerian state and the oil multinationals into parting with money.
“Although certain selfish machineries, merely put togeth­er to achieve pecuniary ends, have been parading in the name of the people of the Niger Delta; the Niger Delta Greenland Jus­tice Mandate will not be derailed from its mission to getting jus­tice for our people,” he said.
The group described meet­ings being held by the Federal Government and some Niger Delta leaders as being off the path to achieving peace in the region.
He said that some of the Federal Government officials involved in the task were play­ing to the gallery.
Agbalaja said: “The drama that trailed the visit of some Ijaw royal fathers to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Ka­chikwu, in Abuja recently, is the more reason why equity must be a factor in setting up a body that will dialogue on behalf of all the people of the Niger Delta.
“If such officials could not respect the royal fathers, if he is lording his will over them, what chance do other ethnic national­ities have, which do not have ad­equate representation?”
The militants warned that they will no longer watch the continued harassment of the people in various parts of the region by the Nigerian military.
Agbalaja said that the group had warned against the victim­isation and harassment of de­fenceless people of the region, especially in the creeks, but in­stead of heeding to its admo­nition, the government has in­creased the military’s presence and made life unbearable for the people.
The militants said that they were not part of the self-ap­pointed leaders of the region who are out to make quick mon­ey in their dealings with the Fed­eral Government.
The group said that the lead­ers involved in the arrangement could only speak for the Ijaw na­tion and not the entire nations in the region.
Agbalaja said: “When lines are blurred, justice is most like­ly to be miscarried. If there shall be a negotiation, it must be seen and indeed, must be in actu­al sense, be representing all the individual nations of the region on equal basis.
“They are now killing our people on the basis of mere sus­picion; this cannot continue. With the launch of their ‘Oper­ation Crocodile Smile’, the Niger Delta Greenland Justice Man­date is also serving a notice on the commencement of our ‘Op­eration Crocodile Tears.’ It shall from now on be an eye for an eye; for every military atroci­ty carried out in the creeks and hinterland of the Niger Del­ta, the Nigerian Armed Forces will have the Niger Delta Green­land Justice Mandate to contend with”.
The militants asked oil workers at the UQCC/UPS Erhomukokwarien in Ughel­li, Eriemu Pigging Manifold in Agbarha, Otorogun Gas Plant, Olomoro Flow Station, Warri Refinery, Port Harcourt Refin­ery, Eleme, OB-OB and Obite Gas Plants in Omoku to leave the areas in their own interest.
Meanwhile, troops of the 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army have invaded a suspected oil bunkerer and militant camps at Afiagbene in Burutu Local Gov­ernment Area of Delta State but found them deserted.
The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Us­man, said in a statement on Tuesday that the troops carried out the raid in collaboration with the Nigerian Navy.
Usman said it was part of the field training exercise on the Day 4 of the ongoing operation nicknamed “Operation Croco­dile Smile” in the Niger Delta.
He said the troops, how­ever, recovered two generating sets, one locally made double barrel gun, one dane gun, three live cartridges and two pump­ing machines.
Others, he said, were one 32 inches LG television, one Ken­wood amplifier and 4 X 50 litres of liquid suspected to be crude oil at Ayakoromo junction.
Also yesterday, former Mili­tary Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Umar (rtd), ap­pealed to President Muham­madu Buhari not to send troops and military hardware to curb the excesses of the Niger Delta militants.
Umar argued that the planned use of force against the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) should be shelved because the militants were ready for dia­logue.
Buhari had during his re­cent visit to Nairobi, Kenya, threatened to handle the mili­tants the same way he dealt with the Boko Haram insurgents if they failed to embrace dialogue.
In a statement titled: “War in the Niger Delta: A Most Dangerous Option”, which he issued in Kaduna on Tuesday, Umar said that the militants were different from Boko Har­am insurgents because the for­mer had killed over 20,000 in­nocent Nigerians in the North East zone.
He said: “I am really fright­ened by the sudden escalation of the crisis in the Niger Del­ta region from where there are some reports of skirmishes be­tween our security forces and the Niger Delta militants. This is happening after the President was quoted as vowing to deal with the militants as he did to Boko Haram.
“All factors considered, the use of military force in an at­tempt to resolve the lingering crisis is not a good option and must therefore be discarded”.