A report by Nigeria's Vanguard newspaper said the fledgling group decided at a meeting earlier this month that the Bakassi peninsula should become an independent state.
A communique from the group said militants had retreated to the creeks of Cross River and elsewhere in the delta region and warned of "dire consequences" if federal forces attacked their bases.
The Bakassi group said it has merged all of its activities in the oil-rich peninsula "into the larger war of liberation of the Niger Delta under the joint leadership of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta".
Abuja
