The Niger Delta blood oil scenario continued yesterday as Rebels sought to knock off Chevron facilities with their speed boats and steal arms from the naval officers on guard at Robert-Kiri in Rivers State, Nigeria, reports claim.
A stand-off that lasted for over 30 minutes was said to have ensued when the naval officers noticed the sudden movement and the simultaneous opening of fire with automatic weapons by the rebels, and had to return fore for fire.
Even though they managed to kill one of the navy personnel, the rebels were curtailed and forced into hasty retreat, fleeing in different directions, by the men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) who sank one of the boats carrying 12 militants.
Spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Colonel Sagir Musa said the rebels’ aim was to destroy the facility and take the arms of the personnel there, but that they met them on red alert.
‘The militants attacked the facility and wanted to destroy it and disrupt production but were overwhelmed. We sank one of their boats; the attack failed. We however lost one personnel, but the facility is on and producing without disruption,’ Colonel Musa said.
