bayou, if I were you, I'd stay home with my family
It's all very well being gung-ho, but in Nigeria, if you're an expat having a gun is not a good idea - one Bristow pilot spent quite a time in prison some years back after police found an unlicensed gun is his house.
The Nigerian Air Force has just attacked Gbaramautu, a town near Warri (one of the 4 main bases where Bristow and Aerocontractors operate). The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claim that they opened fire on the helicopter with rockets and machine guns, causing it to abandon its mission. In a statement, MEND said that the helicopter had taken off from Osubi (Warri) airfield (owned by Shell). As a result it is now considered a military facility and any aircraft using it may be shot down
Bristow is the main operator of helicopters in the Warri area as it has contracts for Shell and Chevron there. Aero only flies for NNPC. MEND has warned that anyone working in the oil industry in the Delta area should leave by midnight tonight or they could be targets when it starts 'all out war'. It now comes down to whether the Nigerian government is going to react in a military or a diplomatic fashion. They seem to have tried some form of diplomacy until now, but these helicopter gunship attacks are certainly stepping up the tension in the area. Unless you have to go to Nigeria (or are a war buff
), I'd wait a few months and see how things go.