OVWIAN-ALADJA community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State was submerged in tension, weekend, following the kidnap of a Nigerian employee of the Niger-Benue Trading Company (NBTC), Ovwian-Aladja, Mr. Daniel Tishene, by suspected Ijaw militants and a counter-operation by irate Urhobo youths who also abducted an Ijaw native. The kidnappers were said to be asking for N3 million ransom from the company.
Men of the Delta State Waterways and Security Committee, which recently secured the release of the two Indians that were abducted by militants at Sapele without paying ransom to the kidnappers in collaboration with the Joint Task Force in the Niger-Delta, were said to have stepped into action. Though, the Ijaw man that was abducted by Ovwian-Aladja youths was released consequent upon the intervention of elders and leaders of the area, who advised the youths not to turn the kidnap into an ethnic war between the Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh people, Tishene�s whereabouts were at press time unknown.
Delta State police commissioner, Mr. Hezekiah Dimka, who confirmed the Friday abduction of Tishene said his men had mounted a manhunt for the unknown gunmen. Commander of the Joint Task Force, JTF, Brigadier-General Lawrence Ngubane, could not be reached by Sunday Vanguard but it was learnt that the task force was already doing something about the release of the hostage.
There was palpable tension in Ovwian-Aladja and Orhuworun communities as a result of the kidnap, as angry Ovwian-Aladja youths cordoned off the roads leading to the areas, yesterday, inprotest of the abduction of their kinsman. Chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) in the state, Barrister Oghenejabor Ikimi, condemned the abduction of Tishene.
He demanded his immediate release in the interest of peace, as same was capable of leading to tribal acrimony even as he called on the security agencies to ensure the release of the hostage. The CDHR boss also appealed to Udu youths not to take the law into their hands in retaliation, adding that violence was not a solution to violence. Tishene was said to have been kidnapped at the gate of the company when he arrived for duty on Friday morning.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the kidnap of the victim had to do with some job-related issue with the NBTC, .and it was the demand for ransom that made Udu youths to embark on a protest. The abductors reportedly came in speedboats and laid an ambush unknown to the workers until they captured their victim.
�Some Ovwian-Aladja youths were suspecting that Tishene was kidnapped by Ijaw youths, that was why they kidnapped an Ijaw man but they had to release him when the elders prevailed on them to do so. By yesterday morning when their son was not released, they laid siege to roads in Ovwian and Orhuworun roads, threatening to kidnap any Ijaw or Itsekiri man if Tishene was not released�, a source told Sunday Vanguard.
It was, however, gathered that Ovwian-Aladja elders invited the leaders of the youths and told them not to take the law into their hands, as the same illegality they were accusing others of engaging in was what they were doing by cordoning off roads and creating more tension among the people. Policemen have been deployed to the troubled areas to put the situation under control. As at the time of filing this report, yesterday, the roads that were barricaded by the youths had been opened and vehicles were passing without disturbance.
The kidnap episode was believed to be an attempt by the gunmen to extort money from the company but as things were, the state government through the Delta Waterways Security Committee, has told militants to find other jobs to do, as the era of militants arm twisting the government was over.