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Suspected armed militants, yesterday, blew up a crude pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), at Ikienghenbiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The militants, led by some youths in the community, used dynamites to bomb the pipeline, causing heavy fire outbreak.

The attack occurred about 12:30a.m. The vandalised pipeline along the Azuzuama– Ikienghenbiri axis of the trunk line conveys crude oil from NAOC flow station at Tebidaba to Brass. The latest in the line of attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta was said to have been executed by some armed youths within the community. Sources in the community hinted that a supremacy war between rival pipeline contractors over surveillance contract led to the attack on the pipeline.

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who visited the area shortly after the attack, were said to have arrested one of the suspects. The suspect was shot in the leg. The state commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, said one of the militants, identified as Peregbakumo was arrested through the assistance of the community leaders.

“A gang of armed youths vandalised pipeline along Azuzuama axis of the Tebidaba-Brass pipeline with dynamite and ignited fire on the line,” he said. Agu said his agency an emergency meeting of senior officers of the command and ordered them to secure all pipelines, oil installations and other critical national assets in the state. He stated that the facility attacked by the militants was a pipeline along Azuzuama area of the Tebidaba-Brass trunk line.

He said: “Through community help, we were able to arrest one of the suspects and to identify some of the fleeing suspects. There was a lot of community collaboration and we are grateful to the community because they don’t like what the armed youths are doing.”

It was learnt that residents of the area are fleeing because of the attack. A resident, Ebidimo Joseph, told one of our correspondents that the groups were struggling for the control of the Ogboinbiri- Tebidaba crude trunk line which passed through the area.

Joseph said that residents were scared and were leaving to neighbouring villages for cover. “We understand it is a conflict between two armed groups for the access to the crude pipeline. One group claims to be working to safeguard the pipeline and said members of the other group are vandals.

They engaged in gun battle. “The sound of the gunfire is scary and there is no sign of the Joint Task Force soldiers who are supposed to be patrolling the area; we have not seen any soldier,” Joseph said.

According to him, the pipeline was set ablaze while the two groups engaged each other in gun battle, adding that there was no way to ascertain if there was any casualty yet. He said that a thick ‘cloud of smoke’ had enveloped the community and polluted the atmosphere in the area.

Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite, in a statement yesterday, said the pipeline vandals were apprehended by youths of Azuzuama community. The commissioner praised the youth “for their gallantry, patriotic disposition and commitment to the peace and economic well-being of the state and Nigeria as a whole.” According to him, Governor Seriake Dickson would “reward the youth for responding positively to his clarion call when it mattered most.”

Obuebite also called on other communities to emulate the Azuzuama community, adding that “if every other community can act in like manner, the current wave of attacks on national assets and related criminal acts will be drastically minimised, if not completely eliminated.”

Meanwhile, policemen on routine search in Bayelsa State have arrested some suspects with some ammunition around the Gloryland Drive in Yenagoa, the state capital. According to the Police Public Relations Officer, Asinim Boswat, the arrests were made on Saturday.

He said: “On 21/5/2016, at about 1700hrs, Policemen on routine Stop and Search Operations along the Gloryland Drive, Yenagoa, flagged down a Red Highlander Jeep with REG No. SPR 386 AA. Consequently, an AR riffle with five loaded magazines, containing 197 rounds of ammunition, were recovered from the vehicle.

The occupants of the vehicle – James Ebi (31) and Pinni Oyakemeagha (34) were arrested, while one Ibori and one Destiny escaped. Efforts have been intensified to arrest the fleeing suspects. Investigation is ongoing.”