THE riddle surrounding the kidnap on Thursday of two expatriate oil workers may have been solved as the leadership of the Ezetu 1 community in Southern Ijaw Council of Bayelsa State has claimed responsibility.
Although the whereabouts of the hostages, one American and one Briton, could not be ascertained, they are said to be in good health and well taken care of by the community.
The Co-ordinator of the Bayelsa Volunteer, Chief Joshua Benemesia, who disclosed this to The Guardian, a few minutes after arriving from the aggrieved community said when he got there, contrary to the belief in Yenagoa, the community was actually responsible for the attack.
His words: “When I got to Ezetu 1 community, contrary to what we were made to believe, after a meeting with the people it was made clear to me that the community had sent the youths to take the workers. The community has taken responsibility of the hostage incident”.
According to Benemesia, during the meeting, the community members made certain demands that should be met before the release of the hostages.
Some of the conditions are the restoration of their fishing rights, the salvaging of their environment and the employment of the indigenes by Sedicoforex and Chevron.
The community also demanded that a power generating plant be provided for the Ezetu 1 community, as well as empowerment of their members in the form of micro-credit loans, besides making functional the cottage hospital in the community.
Expressing disappointment over the action of the community, Chief Benemesia pointed out that hostage taking should be condemned in it entirety,” adding: “This recurring hostage is destroying the Ijaw struggle and it is high time the Ijaw people themselves put a stop to it.”
The best thing to do, according to him, is sensitize the people on the bad image the situation is giving the state, as kidnappings and hostage-taking have nothing to do with the struggle.