President Muhammadu Buhari has invited former President Goodluck Jonathan for talks at Aso Rock this week.
According to Daily Trust, Buhari’s invite of his predecessor may be connected with the recent activities of the militant group, Niger Delta Avengers.
The new militancy group, last week, threatened the owners of oil blocs who include former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, former military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, vice president, Atiku Abubakar, minister of defence, Theophilus Danjuma, ex-minister of Petroleum, Rilwanu Lukman with a two-week ultimatum to shut down operations and evacuate the workers on the oil field.
The Delta Avengers claimed responsibility for a string of attacks on strategic oil pipelines and facilities in the Niger Delta region, shutting down 50% of the crude oil production in Nigeria.
The group has presented an 11-point demand to President Muhammadu Buhari and threatened a total shut down of oil production in the country. Included in the demand list tagged, Operation Red Economy, is the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the National Conference of 2014 and the unconditional release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the pro-Biafra group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who has been incarcerated by the Nigerian government since October 2015.
The West African economic giant is oil-dependent and is hard hit by fluctuations in crude oil production. Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum resources on Monday, May 16, 2016 disclosed that the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers has cut oil production by 800,000 barrels per day.
