Residents flee as rival militants engage in gun battle in Bayelsa

Residents of Ikeinghenbiri community in Southern Ijaw local council of Bayelsa State on Sunday fled the area following a clash between rival armed groups at an oilfield operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company NAOC.

A resident of the area, Ebidimo Joseph, told our reporter by phone that the groups were struggling for the control of the Ogboinbiri-Tebidaba crude trunk line which passed through the area.

Mr. Joseph said the residents became scared and were leaving for neighbouring villages.

“We understand it is a conflict between two armed groups for the access to the crude pipeline, one group claims to be working to safeguard the pipeline and said the other group are vandals, they have been shooting,” he said.

“The sound of the gunfire is scary and there is no sign of the Joint Task Force soldiers who are supposed to be patrolling the area, we have not seen any soldier.”

According to him, the pipeline was set ablaze while the two groups engaged each other in gun battle, adding that there was no way to ascertain if there was any casualty yet.

Efforts to get comments from Isa Ado, spokesperson for the joint military force deployed to protect oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta were futile as he did not answer our telephone calls.

He also did not reply to text message requesting for his comments.