The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), a dreaded militant group, has warned Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, to desist from making unsubstantiated statements about the group even as it said that it has not engaged in any form of negotiation with the Federal Government.

Avengers said in a statement by Brig-Gen Murdoch Agbinigbo, their self-acclaimed spokesman, that they are not involved in killing because they are keeping to their promise to the world that “in this process of liberating our people, not a single blood of Nigerian soldiers will be wasted despite the provocation.”

“Even the inhumane Nigerian soldiers are exempted, our war is on oil installations not to take innocent lives. For the fact we can’t give life, we also don’t have the power to take any life. But we (Avengers) are assuring the families of the affected soldiers that we will bring the culprits to book,” the statement said.

The Avengers are reacting to a recent statement credited to Garba Shehu calling them murderers, kidnappers and sea pirates.

The statement credited to Shehu reads: “Out of the blue, a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) sprouts. They kill soldiers and policemen. They kidnap and kill oil company workers. Piracy on the high seas. They asked oil companies to stop operations and pack out of the Niger Delta region.

“They blow up oil pipelines, power and other infrastructure. They attack and kill prominent individuals, ransacking homes up and down the coastal areas, including lately, Lagos and Ogun states. All these for what.”

In reaction the Avengers said: “We want Garba Shehu (Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity) to go and get his record straight. Niger Delta Avengers have not killed and kidnapped oil workers, we are not into sea piracy, and we have never killed policemen. The Buhari led government knows the people attacking soldiers and killing policemen. It’s their sleeper’s agents that are doing it, so they should stop tagging Niger Delta Avengers to killing, kidnapping, ransacking of policemen, soldiers and individuals in the region.”

The militant group said that since its struggle for the emancipation of the people of the Niger Delta stated, it has not sat on a negotiation table with any government representative and does not intend to so until its demands are met.

“We the Niger Delta Avengers have not negotiated with anyone. So we don’t know where Mr. Garba Shehu and General Babagana Munguno, the National Security Adviser, are getting their information. If they have been negotiating with anybody it clearly shows they had been negotiating with fraudsters and their (national security agency) created militant group.” declared the militant group.

•Text courtesy of Independent. Photo shows Garba Shehu.