Twitter takes down Niger Delta Avengers’ account

Micro-blogging website, Twitter, on Monday suspended an account belonging to a group of oil pipelines saboteurs, Niger Delta Avengers.
The suspension came a day after the group said it successfully launched five attacks on oil installations within two days.
Notorious for its indiscriminate destruction of oil and gas installations owned by major oil corporations across the delta states, the Avengers had since inception used Twitter to announce attacks.
The group first used Twitter to claim responsibility for the bombing of Bonny Soku gas export line in Gbarain, Bayelsa State, in February 2016.
Since then, it had claimed responsibility for more than 24 attacks as at July 2.
While announcing attacks, it also demanded a better living condition for the people of the oil-rich region. At some point, the group demanded a sovereign state for the Niger Delta.
Shell, Chevron, Eni, NNPC and other oil companies operating in the region had their facilities attacked in recent months.
In June, Shell said it would keep the Forcados Export Terminal shut until activities returned to normal. Other companies also evacuated their staff.
The Avengers said its activities had seen Nigeria’s oil exports cut by more than half, to about 800,000 barrels per day – vowing to bring it to “zero” in the coming months.
The Nigerian government said it was willing to negotiate with leaders of the group, but its spokesman, Mudoch Agbinibo, announced in June that only a dialogue supervised by foreign countries and corporations would make it engage the government.
Avengers’ followers on Twitter soared from less than 1,000 in April to over 30,000 followers as at July 2.
The Avengers’ website, was, however, still running as at 2:44 p.m. on July 4.
Twitter did not immediately respond to PREMIUM TIMES’ enquiry seeking further clarification about the decision to deactivate NDA’s account.

Premium Times.Twitter takes down Niger Delta Avengers’ accountTwitter takes down Niger Delta Avengers’ account

Comments

Understanding Prof. Yemi Osinbajo - Abraham Ogbodo

Abraham Ogbodo I am trying to understand Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Often, he speaks out of character. That is, he talks as if he is Vice President before he is a professor of law, even when I know that the latter comes first. The man wasn’t like this when he was the attorney general of Lagos State and a teacher at the Law Faculty of the University of Lagos. Then, his statements were measured and as a seasoned lawyer, based on facts. But today, Osinbajo is sounding like Adams Oshiomhole, a union leader, who by the grace of God, became governor of Edo State for eight years. The revelations about big thefts in the economy had come more from Adams than even Ibrahim Magu, chairman of the EFCC. It was Adams who said former petroleum minister; Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke alone stole 13 billion British pounds from the national treasury. That is like saying she stole in raw cash almost twice as much as the entire fortune of Alhaj...

Much ado about the foreign reserves - Nonso Obikili

I have received a lot of questions about the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) foreign reserves recently. The CBN has of course been touting the reserves growing from a low of about $24bn to the approximately $42bn it is now. The questions typically centre around why we are keeping so much in reserve when the economy is struggling, and we have poor infrastructure? Why don’t we use the reserves to reduce the poverty that is rampant? The question typically betrays a little bit of misunderstanding over what the foreign reserves are and how the entire thing works. Hopefully, after reading this we will have a better understanding of what it is and what it can and can’t be used for. First, what is the “Foreign Reserves?” It is the amount of foreign exchange that the central bank has at its disposal at any point in time. Some of this is in cash and some in other liquid assets, that is assets that can quickly be turned to cash. Some of this is in US dollars but sometimes it’s in other c...

Boko Haram’s campaign against education and enlightenment - By Landry Signe

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group originating from Nigeria is frightened by this enlightening power of education. Unsurprisingly, on Monday, February 19, the group, whose name often translates to “Western education is a sin,” stormed a girls’ school in the village of Dapchi in northern Nigeria to abduct students. Of the 907 schoolgirls who were in the school the day of the attack, more than 100 are still missing as of Sunday. Since it became violent about a decade ago, Boko Haram’s actions, through these and other types of bloody attacks, have resulted in horrifying consequences. Human Rights Watch estimates that Boko Haram has left at least 7 million in need of humanitarian assistance, 2.1 million displaced, and 20,000 civilians dead. Local leaders claim the number is significantly higher. Despite such causalities, it took Boko Haram’s massive kidnapping of 276 sch...

ATTENCAO

Search This Blog