ELEVEN days in a hideaway in the creek where they are being watched over by armed militants, the four American oil workers who were kidnapped by Niger-Delta Freedom Fighters (Egbema One) say they, totally, understand now, the reason why militants in the Niger-Delta are up in arms against the government, declaring emphatically that that there is no human being with blood flowing in his veins that will not be provoked to carry arms if he is treated like an animal, the way Niger-Deltans are being treated.
The hostages: Mike Roussel (anchor operator), Chris Gay (anchor operator), Larry Plake (anchor operator) and Kevin Faller (barge foreman), all workers of Global Industries, a Lagos-based oil servicing company to the Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) spoke to the Saturday Vanguard exclusively in the base camp of the militants, Thursday evening.
This reporter travelled from Warri in a chartered speedboat with some linkmen at about 1.00 pm and arrived the campsite at about 3.30 pm. The three-hour journey to the base was hectic and the business that took us there done in about two hours. By 5.30 pm, we were on our back to Warri.
It was a risky trip, as the return trip was made to Warri in the darkness. The boat driver had to stop at one of the communities in the creek to buy a torch before we could continue.
Nevertheless, the hostages were very glad that somebody from outside the camp of the militants was allowed to see them. They became more elated when they were told that the visitor is a journalist from the Vanguard newspapers. They were willing to share their experiences with him.
Unanimously, they called on the Federal Government to speed up and meet the demands of the militants, which is basically an agreement to the effect that the government and oil companies operating in their areas would provide the natives with basic amenities like road, potable water, electricity and other things to facilitate their release by the freedom fighters.
They were all in good health when this reporter met with them but each one of them wants to go home and re_unite with their families as soon as possible. They also confirmed that the militants were taking care of them under the circumstances
From their mien, the hostages were also confident of the fact that the militants do not mean any harm to them as individuals and that, they were mere tools in the multifaceted and volatile struggle by an underprivileged and subjugated people for recognition and attention by their government.
Chris Gay told Saturday Vanguard: �Their struggle is a genuine struggle for the emancipation of their people. They told us and I have seen it that the reason why they kidnapped us is to draw the attention of the government and the oil companies to their suffering. They want job for the natives; they want government to help them out. Generally, they want development, which is why we are being held�.
On his part, Mike Roussel asserted that �the people are starving; they want schools for their children. That is the most important to them. They want jobs also, they don�t have money. Just look at the water they bath with and drink, which tells you right away that something has to be done.
�I want the Nigerian government to bring us out of here to enable me go home to my family as soon as possible. The government should come in here and try to help these people out and their children. Everybody needs education because without education, you have nothing and here, they don�t have schools�, he said.
Kevin Faller, who quivered, as he spoke said he had learnt many lessons from his stay so far in the creek. In his words: �Yes, I have learnt many things, the nature of how these people are being treated, how they have to live and you see, everyone is a human being and not an animal and these people deserve the good things of life like others too. There is no way they would not be provoked to carry arms and do what they are doing when they are not provided with basic amenities.
�They are very poor and from what I can see, there are no schools, hospitals, no roads and if something happens, it will take a long time to get to the hospital and maybe, the person being rushed to the hospital will die before they get there. It hurts to see human beings live the way these people are living in the Niger-Delta, no one deserves to live like this�, he added.
To the fourth hostage, Larry Plake, �our eyes have been opened to a lot of things we didn�t know about the sufferings of the Niger-Deltans. The militants have showed us a lot of things that we did not know before of their position. Things like how they live, how they are treated and all that, it is not right, I must say.
�They have nothing. And what they have at all is from their own land. Have you not seen their houses, they bring down trees to make their ramshackle buildings, they bath and drink from the same water they pollute. The food they eat here, we cannot eat it.
�I want the government to understand the plight of these people first. Let the eyes of the leaders of Nigeria be opened on the real problems of the Niger-Delta people. It is only when their eyes are really opened that they can tackle it. A human being does not have to live the way these people are living in the creek. They should have schools, hospitals, houses to live, not these ramshackle huts they live in, not things they have to build like what we have seen. There should be electricity and spring water. In fact, so many things are missing here�, he asserted.