Seventeen suspected hostage-takers have been arrested by the police.
The Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, who made this known at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, neither disclosed the identities of the hostage-takers nor when they were arrested.
He, however, promised to speak more on the arrests on Tuesday (today).
Okiro said, �I will not speak further on the matter until Tuesday (today) when these people will be paraded.
�These people, who were arrested by the police, will send a signal to those like them that the Nigeria Police Force will no longer tolerate any act of criminality in whatever form.
�You will see tomorrow (today) that many of these hostage-takers are not even from the Niger Delta region. They go there to pick people and ask for ransom. You will all hear from them.�
Okiro added that the Federal Government was fast responding to the Niger Delta problem by awarding N200bn contract for road construction.
The leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujaheeden Asari-Dokubo, who attended the press conference with the IG, again gave conditions for peace to reign in the Niger Delta.
The conditions included the convening of a Sovereign National Conference by President Umaru Yar�Adua and the employment of indigenes of the region by multi-national oil companies.
Asari-dokubo, who also accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo and ex-Rivers State Governor Peter Odili of worsening �armed struggle� in the Niger Delta, said he had intimated to Yar�Adua how to end the crises in the region during their meeting three weeks ago.
He said, �There would be peace in the region if the President does the right thing. And the right thing is that there must be an SNC.
�We have to let Nigerians know that unless the oil companies are compelled to recruit majority of their staff from their host communities, I am sorry there might be no peace in the area.�
He alleged that rather than create employment opportunities for Niger Delta youths, the oil companies through their staff, had been infesting them with HIV/AIDS and introducing girls to prostitution.
According to him, some of his colleagues resorted to armed struggle when money was no longer flowing into their pockets from the government.
Asari-Dokubo said it was unfortunate that people like Okiro, who is from the Niger Delta, could not speak the truth because they worked for the Nigerian state.
He condemned kidnapping in the Niger Delta, saying he had, after his release from detention, been threatened by people who accused him of being a sell-out.
The NDPVF leader said, �Hostage-taking is a powerful tool in revolutionary struggle but what is happening is not what is done in other parts of the world. What is happening is that criminals have hijacked our struggle.�
He said the situation whereby people, including kids �who are still wearing napkins� were kidnapped should be condemned.
He said he came to intimate to Okiro his desire to travel to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.
According to him, the visit is in fulfillment of one of the conditions set by an Abuja Federal High Court, where he is undergoing trial for alleged treason.
In Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Monday, the NDPVF said unless militant leaders were incorporated into the Peace and Reconciliation Committee set up by the state government, peace would continue to elude the state.
The group said at a news conference, that it was wrong for the state government to set up a peace and reconciliation committee that did not recongnise the actual militants.
An NDPVF spokesperson, Mr. Onengiye Erekosima, said that the action of the government was an indication that it was not ready for peace.
Erekosima contended that the government was yet to get in touch with the NDPVF, which he said controlled the major Niger Delta liberation fighters.
But in his reaction, the Secretary of the PRC, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the NDPVF was one of the first groups it contacted on how to achieve peace in the state.
Needam said, �Our committee will not close its doors to any group or individuals who are genuinely committed to peace. So, if the NDPVF is willing to make peace, let it come forward with proposal and how to go about it.
�We met with them and exchanged ideas on how to attain peace and it is curious for someone to come back later and say that we have not contacted them.�
He said the committee was willing to integrate all those who had �truly repented
Aug72007