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Even as the government has vowed to clamp down on militants and vandals of oil installations, a source has alleged that pipeline contractors were behind the attacks.
Vanguard quoted him as saying:
“The militants are working together with the contractors; the contractors use them to blow up the pipelines and bid for the repairs. They employ the militants for the period of the repairs and pay them huge money. When the contract is over, they look for another pipeline to blow up.
“You see, this was how their seniors in the militancy business made money and they want to make big money too. That is what is happening”
An ex-militant leader, Paul Eris, alias “General Ogunboss,” from Bayelsa State, also told the newspaper on phone, that those behind the recent bombing activities of Niger Delta Avengers were known to government.
His words:
“The government knows who is behind these activities. When these individuals were taking contracts and living freely on the streets, did you hear anything like Niger Delta Avengers?
“There is no Niger Delta Avengers, rather, there is an avenger, who is carrying out the attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta. When Buhari won the election, there was nothing these guys did not do. Some other individuals in the region and myself were called just to ensure that pipelines are tampered with in Bayelsa State, but I was not part of it. I do not want to be involved and I can tell you that no Bayelsan would be involved in that level of illiteracy.”