MEND Attacks Atlas Cove Jetty, Widens Niger Delta War

In what could be described as an unprecedented move, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), announced Monday that its fighters sabotaged a loading dock for oil tankers in Lagos State, thus widening its offensive against oil installations in the country.

According to MEND, its fighters launched an attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty located on the outskirts of Lagos Sunday, the first major attack outside the Niger Delta area since the group began its latest offensive against the installations in late May. The MEND attacks, in return, were in response to the large-scale offensive launched by the Joint Task Force (JTF) against militants in the Niger Delta area.

MEND’s offensive against the Atlas Cove Jetty, hundreds of miles away from the area it had concentrated its attacks before now, has quickly been likened by many to the attack launched by the defunct Biafran Army against the-then Midwest Region during the early days of the Nigerian Civil War.

The militant group’s new offensive in Lagos also caught many unawares, since it is came amidst efforts to secure the release of its leader, Henry Okah, who is on trial on gun-running and treason charges. There were speculations Okah could be released as soon as Tuesday.

Although it was not immediately possible to verify the attack on Atlas Cove jetty, a police spokesman said authorities were investigating.

MEND has rarely attacked sites outside the Niger Delta, focusing mainly on oil facilities in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States, all in Southern Nigeria.

Last May, the JTF launched a wide-ranging offensive to dislodge what it described as “criminal elements” operating as militants in the nation’s Niger Delta area; hundreds of people were killed in the affected areas, with thousands of others displaced from their homes.

In reaction to the JTF offensive, MEND, the main militant group operating in the area, issued an ultimatum, warning workers at oil-producing facilities operating in the area to leave such places with 72 hours.

Just a few hours after the expiration of that ultimatum, the Chevron Oil Company reported a fire at one of its facilities in the area. MEND claimed responsibility for what it claimed was an attack on that facility but the JTF quickly countered that claim, saying what MEND claimed was an explosion it caused was only a fire caused by an “electrical malfunction” at the facility.

MEND has, since that episode, claimed other attacks in the area, including one that damaged or destroyed facilities belonging to oil majors operating in the Niger Delta area.

The Joint Military Task Force/JTF had on Tuesday refuted claims made by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that the militant group has sabotaged the Chevron-operated Otunana oil-pumping station, located in Delta State.

Attacks launched by the militant group are believed to have shut down about one-fifth of Nigeria’s oil output in the last three years.

The Federal Government, partly in a bid to blunt the disruption that the various militant attacks had inflicted on the country’s oil production activities, last June 25 announced a wide-ranging amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta area who laid down their arms.

In announcing the amnesty terms, President Umaru Yar’Adua advised militants that those who laid down their arms would be offered rehabilitation services in government-operated centers, alongside other measures aimed at re-integrating such militants into mainstream society. However, MEND quickly spurned the government offer, citing the continued detention and trial of its leader as the reason for its continued attacks.

Last week, however, a noticeable chink appeared in MEND’s ostensibly-steely resolve to resist the amnesty, when news emerged that its leader, Henry Okah, had finally agreed to embrace the government’s amnesty offer, and secure his freedom.

Reports quickly followed that President Umaru Yar’Adua had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mike Aondoakaa, to “immediately” set the process in motion for the release of Okah, who is believed to be in poor health and needs urgent medical attention. .

Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, presidential spokesman, who made the disclosure when he spoke about what was believed to be Okah’s impending release, also said the President had mandated Aondoakaa to work with Okah’s lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, to tidy up the legal process so the release from detention of the MEND leader could be effected without further delay.

Adeniyi said then the President, who was then currently attending the G-8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy, especially commended the role played by Lagos lawyer, Mr. Falana, in the entire process leading to his client’s (Okah’s) acceptance of the amnesty offer.

According to the presidential spokesman, following the development of Okah’s acceptance of the amnesty, President Yar’Adua had called on the remaining recalcitrant militant leaders to avail themselves of the amnesty offer, so as to pave the way for peace and rapid development in the Niger Delta area.

Okah was arrested in Angola in September 2007 and was later extradited to Nigeria to face trial on charges of gun-running and treason, the latter hinged on the armed activities of MEND, which Okah is believed to have founded and which he led before his arrest.

The militant leader’s trial is taking place in secret before a Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, in North-Central Nigeria. Although Okah’s lawyers have made many applications before the Court regarding bail for their client, none of such requests have been granted.

The attack on the Atlas Cove jetty, which came in the midst of high-pitched efforts to effect the release of MEND leader, Henry Okah, seemed to have come to the relevant authorities as a surprise.
According to the MEND statement that announced the attack on the Atlas Cove jetty, "we encountered some slight resistance from the Nigerian Navy guarding the facility but they were easily over-powered. Over nine may have been injured or killed," said the MEND statement.

"We are aware of the attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty but the details are still sketchy. But we must say that the MEND has exaggerated in its statement," a naval spokesman, Captain Henry Babalola, said.

"We have heard of the attack but we are trying to get facts surrounding it," Lagos State police spokesman, Frank Mba said.

The rebels launched their "oil war" in the swamps and creeks of oil-rich southern Nigeria in 2006, demanding that local people get a more equitable share of the oil wealth, but Sunday night's attack marked the first time their campaign had reached Lagos.

In its statement after the Atlas Cove jetty attack, MEND said "the problems facing our dear country Nigeria has nothing to do with militant freedom fighters but with the corrupt political leadership and certain arrogant tribes still living on past glory.”

"The two-pronged approach of combining dialogue and intensifying attacks throughout the course of negotiations, will be the unique characteristics of Moses," MEND said in referring to its latest offensive which it has characterized as 'Hurricane Moses.'

In tallying the devastation wreaked on the country’s finances by the long-running militant attacks on the country’s oil installations, the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has painted a grim picture of the fallout of the violence, saying monthly oil revenue in 2009 dropped to around one billion dollars, from an average of 2.2 billion dollars in 2008.

Courtesy: Channels Television.

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