President
Muhammadu Buhari has cancelled at the last minute a visit planned for Thursday
to the oil-producing Niger Delta, which has been hit by a wave of militant
attacks, a government source said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will instead
visit the restive southern region to launch a cleanup program of the Ogoniland,
an area badly hit by oil spills, the source said, without giving a reason for
Buhari’s cancellation.
Buhari had already skipped a visit to the
commercial capital Lagos in the south last month at the last minute. Posters
with his picture had been already hung up to welcome the president before his
spokesman cited “scheduling” difficulties.
It
would have been the first visit of the former military ruler to the Delta since
taking office in May last year. Critics have accused Buhari, a Muslim from the
north, of ignoring the predominately Christian south.
Hours after the announcement of Buhari’s
visit to the swamps on Tuesday the Niger Delta Avengers militant group, which
has claimed several attacks on Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell facilities, issued
a warning to oil firms that their “facilities and personnel will bear the brunt
of our fury”.
The
southern Delta swamps have been hit by a series of militant attacks on oil and
gas pipelines which have brought Nigeria’s oil output to a 20-year low. The
Avengers have accused Buhari of ignoring local problems, reports Reuters.
Local officials and Western allies such as
Britain have told Buhari that moving army reinforcements to the Delta region
would not be enough to stop the attacks and that the population’s grievances
should be dealt with
Buhari
said on Sunday the government would hold talks with leaders in Nigeria’s main
oil-producing region to address their grievances, in a bid to stop a surge in
pipeline attacks. Residents in the swamp areas have for years complained about
oil industry pollution and about economic marginalization by the government.
No comments:
Post a Comment