Niger Delta Avengers rejects plans to ceasefire

Militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers said on Tuesday it never agreed to a ceasefire with the Nigerian government.

Government officials told Reuters a one-month ceasefire had been agreed last week after talks between the oil minister, community groups and state governors in the restive Niger Delta.

But instead, the militants said they have not agreed on any ceasefire with the Nigerian government.

“The NDA High Command never remember having any agreement on ceasefire with the Nigeria Government,” they tweeted.

The NDA High Command never remember having any agreement on ceasefire with the Nigeria Government.

— Niger Delta Avengers (@NDAvengers) June 21, 2016

The group wants a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth to go to the impoverished Delta region.

Crude sales make up about 70 percent of Nigeria’s national income and the vast majority of that oil comes from the southern swampland.

A number of new militant groups have sprung up in the last few weeks, each with their own set of demands, which has made the insurgency increasingly fractured.

Buhari had said the government wanted to hold talks with Niger Delta leaders to address poverty and oil pollution.