Militant demands have been increasing and range from regional autonomy to a bigger share of the oil wealth that has polluted the Niger Delta region and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of farmers and fishermen.
President Muhammad Buhari has said he will terminate in December a USD 500 million-a-year amnesty program negotiated in 2009 for 30,000 militants that curbed an insurgency that was killing 1,000 people a year and halved the oil production of Africa's biggest producer.