Nigerian army denies militant attack on Conoil

LAGOS, January 7, 2019 – The Nigerian military has denied a militant group’s claims about executing a strike against operator Conoil, local media reported Monday.

“After exhaustive verifications following enquiries from media practitioners, we found out that no such incident happened. We enjoin the media to crosscheck their facts before rushing to the press to avoid publishing falsehood such as this report,” Joint Military Taskforce spokesman Major Ibrahim Abdullahi told Vanguard.

The Koluama Seven Brothers claimed to have carried out an attack on Conoil facilities on Friday. In a statement, the little-known group said it would continue strikes to halt the company’s operations if its demands, such as job creation, were not met.

Militant attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria have decreased since 2016. In 2017, following negotiations with the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, the government released plans for development of the Niger Delta region, including modular refineries, startup of the Maritime University and beginning the Ogoni cleanup.