Militants Attack Shell Gas Plant in Utorogu
Nigerian militants attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell in the Niger Delta on Saturday and warned of more strikes to come, but Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the Joint Military Taskforce (JTF) said it had repelled the raid and killed three gunmen.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the region's main militant group, said its fighters attacked the Utorogu gas plant in Delta state at around 3:30am (0230 GMT).

The group, whose attacks in the Niger Delta have shut down more than a fifth of Nigeria's crude oil output over the past three years, called off a five-month-old ceasefire a week ago but had warned it would strike in Rivers state further east.

In an e-mail to Channels Television, MEND says it decided on Utorogu to dispel the false sense of peace and security in Delta state which the governor has been boasting about.

"It is also to send a message to the oil companies that all the pipelines they have repaired in the western Delta will soon be in need of repairs again," it said in an emailed statement.

The Nigerian army said earlier it had repelled an attack by suspected militants on Utorogu, killing three of the gunmen. It said two workers at the site and one soldier were wounded.

"There was no impact on the facility. Our soldiers are still guarding it," Colonel Abubakar said.

Shell could not immediately be reached for comment.

MEND warned a week ago of a "sweeping assault" on Nigeria's oil and gas industry, the biggest in Africa, but said its strikes would begin in Rivers state.

MEND's initial attacks on industry installations were in the western states of Delta and Bayelsa, where much oil production remains shut down because of the sabotage.

More recently, the violence in the region has centred on Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, although much of the unrest has been criminal rather than political in nature, including kidnapping for ransom and piracy.

Oil is our curse. As some of the oil companies are preapring to leave Nigeria (I really hope they do !!!).
Let them decommision all the oil and gas facilities, shut in & abandon all the oil wells.

We would now be left alone to solve our problems. We need to suffer to see the light !!!

Let everybody sit down, think and discuss. From Politician to Community Youth,

- How can we have light if you destroy the gas plants?
- How can we stop flaring if you destroy the facilites meant to utilise the gas?

You would be right to blame Government for a lot of things, but after a while you start to ask, what next?

But to be honest, I really dont see a light at the end of the tunnel for Nigeria, we just dont solve problems,