Two states in Nigeria’s oil-producing delta region were hit by violence Friday, officials said, as gunmen killed nine people and, separately, militants blew up a gas pipeline, in a sign of returning unrest to the area.
In the town of Obrikom and the nearby village of Obor in Rivers state, a police spokesman said gunmen went on a shooting spree Friday evening.
“It was at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Some unknown armed men invaded the Obrikom and Obor communities . . . killing nine, injuring two persons,” Rivers state police spokesman Ahmed Mohammad said Saturday.
He said the house of a parliamentary opposition candidate, Vincent Ogbagu of the All Progressives Congress, was set on fire. APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari beat incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in a landslide victory last weekend, creating a bitter mood in Jonathan’s home region.
The home of oil and gas in Africa’s biggest crude producer was expected to be a flash point for election-related violence, particularly due to tensions between Gov. Chibuike Amaechi and the presidency after he defected to the APC.
Gunfire and explosions hit an opposition rally in February, wounding several people, and other non-fatal bomb blasts rocked the state ahead of the polls.
In Delta state, militants from the Urhobo ethnic minority group blew up a pipeline in the early hours of Friday to draw attention to their exclusion from lucrative pipeline protection contracts with the state oil company, an official said.
“The Urhobo militants who carried out the attack have claimed responsibility,” said Isa Ado, spokesman for the Pulo Shield task force, made up of members of various Nigerian security forces.
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