Militants under the umbrella of Unyekisong Akwa Ibom have asked multinational oil companies operating in the state to vacate with immediate effect.

A statement yesterday in Uyo, the state capital, by the leader and deputy leader of the group, Gen. Dede Udofia and Maj. Ibanga Ekang, said the notice became necessary due to unwholesome atrocities perpetrated by multinational oil companies on oil producing communities.

Unyekisong Akwa Ibom is a coalition of freedom fighters in Akwa Ibom State comprising former members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, Movement for the Actualisation of the Niger Delta Republic, Niger Delta People’s Salvation Force, Niger Delta Avengers, Niger Delta Liberation Force and Niger Delta Movement for Justice and Niger Delta Warriors

The statement expressed shock and displeasure about what it described as passive response of the current administration in the state to the constant cries and yearnings of the masses “from these communities whose sources of livelihood, property and lives have been destroyed as a result of the operations of these oil firms.”