A militant group, Movement for the Emancipation and Defence of Niger Delta, MEDND, has threatened to retaliate for anyone killed or facility destroyed in Delta State by suspected herdsmen.
It would be recalled that herdsmen had threatened in a letter, on Sunday, to attack Asaba and Agbor, Delta State, over Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s support for the ban on open grazing in the Southern part of the country.
The herdsmen had also vowed to carry out their threat if Okowa does not withdraw his support for the ban on open grazing within 72 hours.
Reacting to the three-day warning to the governor, MEDND in a statement said: “Our attention has been brought to the threat of some herdsmen, who have given a three- day warning to the Governor of Delta State because he supported the ban of open grazing across the southern states.
“We also saw your taking responsibility for an explosion at the secretariat in Asaba. We are warning that if your threat is made to come to fulfilment, no herdsman will ever exist across the Niger Delta and all oil facilities linked to your people will be brought down. If one soul is lost, 10 of your souls will pay for it. If one facility is destroyed, 10 owned by you will be destroyed.
“We will respond proportionately 10 times whatever you give, the corresponding response will not be limited to the Delta, it may be with your politicians or with your rulers.
“We will launch three rocket launchers and ballistic missiles at any facility of our choice as a warning in seven days if you make bold your threats.
“We do not make cheap our threats, we have shut down the country and we can at any time shut you down. We are the Niger Delta, we stand for the interest of the Niger Delta and we will not allow any coward to threaten us. We fight without running.”