Benin, Edo – Barely a month after the Nigerian police arrested suspected members of a militant group which has claimed responsibility for attacks on oil pipelines in Niger Delta region, the security agency has disclosed they are tracking other agitators who had issued warning to oil companies.

The agitators calling themselves Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) had claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a facility operated by US energy group Chevron, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, and series of protests that has led to violent confrontation with law enforcement agents.

However, on Monday, the police in Benin City, Edo state capital said they were on the trail of one Augustine Monday who hails from Ika-South local government area of Delta State, and two others, Felix Abat and John Balah for their role during a protest on by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) on 9th March 2016 against plans by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) management to sack no fewer than 3,500 dockworkers.

According to the police, the protest took place simultaneously in Lagos, Calabar, Onne, Port Harcourt and Warri where the trio (Augustine Monday, Felix Abat and John Balah) who are suspected NDA members “instigated” the protesting dock workers to picket the Warri ports in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta state.

The police maintained that the suspects had lived in Warri, in Delta State where they were involved with the agitators before they relocated to neighbouring Edo state, adding NDA activities contributed to slump in Nigerian oil production, which is reportedly down to its lowest level in more than two decades, from about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) to under 1.7 million bpd.

“One Augustine Monday from Ika-South local government area of Delta State and two others Felix Abat and John Balah who can’t be traced to their place of origin are suspected members of Niger Delta Avengers. They instigated the workers and turned a peaceful protest to a violent one.

“They joined dock workers to protest, and they were the ones even threatening to shut down oil companies, all the name of demanding development”, A police source told our correspondent

Despite no evidence to back the police claim of their involvement in violent protests, the source added, “we are already tracking them, we are tracking them to where ever they are, and they will be arrested for prosecution to ascertain their involvement”.

Recalled Nigerian army spokesman Rabe Abubakar last month confirmed arrest of some suspected members of Niger Delta Avengers in connection with attacks on Chevron oil facilities.

“We made some arrests over the weekend. They were picked up around scenes of recent attacks in the Niger delta,” a member of the joint task force involved in security in the region had said

“it will be pre-emptive at this stage to conclude that the suspects are the militants that bombed the oil pipelines and installations until after investigation,” the official had told the AFP news agency.

The agitators who are mainly young people are demanding control of the mineral resources especially crude oil discovered in the 1950s for the benefit of the people living in the area.

The locals in Niger Delta believed the oil should be a blessing, and not a curse as they experienced thousands of oil spills that have ruined their fishing grounds, contaminate their water supplies, and destroyed their farm lands.

“We are demanding for our rights. We have been slaves for many years. We are doing this so our communities get developed. We want to control the oil resources”, one leader of the group, Johnson Biboye had told AFP news agency

Crude oil sales from the Niger Delta region account for 70 percent of national income in what is Africa’s biggest economy.