The Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro said a total of 128 people consisting of expatriates and local people fell victims to hostage-taking and kidnapping between January 1, 2008 to Dec 31 of the same year in Rivers State.
According to him, out of the figure, 126 were released unhurt, one recovered dead and one had all his four fingers chopped off by the hostage takers.
Presenting a paper titled Examining the Path to Resolving Kidnapping, Hostage Taking and Local Terrorism at the maiden edition of Alex Ekwueme International Summit which held in Abuja, IGP, represented by CP Aloy Okorie expressed worry that kidnapping of religious leaders, traditional rulers and toddlers were deviations that make it difficult to decipher where agitation for the Niger Delta comes in and called for active engagement of local communities to end the situation.
The Police boss went further to state that payment of ransoms to hostage takers was prohibited by the Federal Government though that did not apply to individuals and companies.
He recalled that since January 2006, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had used hostage-taking as a money-raising tool while noting that about 11 million dollars was paid as premium globally for release of hostages.
Speaking earlier, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan exonerated the political class over the emergence of hostage-takings across the country saying that politicians did not create the situation.
The VP who said tracing the activities of politicians up to 1998 showed there were no signs of their involvement in hostage-takings and kidnappings though admitted that there was still the need to determine how the incidence started, how it got to the present point and the individuals behind it.
He noted that hostage-taking was purely for commercial interest that may not completely be eliminated while the evolution of cultism and secret societies must have contributed to the problem.