(Reuters) – Gunmen have kidnapped two Chinese men and a Nigerian man working for a local company in the southeastern state of Anambra, police and witnesses said on Monday.
The Chinese were the first foreigners kidnapped outside of Nigeria’s oil heartland in the southern Niger Delta.
The men were abducted from their workplace in the industrial town of Nnewi on Saturday, raising concerns a spate of hostage-taking in the Niger Delta may be spreading to other parts of Nigeria.
Police said they were yet to establish who the kidnappers were and what their demands might be.
“The two Chinese nationals and one Nigerian were kidnapped at the place where they were working. We are investigating the matter,” a police spokesman said by telephone from the state capital Awka.
Four men drove into the premises of the Innoson Group of Companies Ltd, a motorcycle assembly plant, shot sporadically in the air, and bundled the three men into a four-wheel drive and sped off, an eyewitness said.
“We were all frightened and ran into hiding,” Onyeka Uwakwe told Reuters.
Police suspect members of a separatist group operating in the southeastern region may have abducted the men.
But the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), which is campaigning for a peaceful secession of southeastern Nigeria, has denied any involvement.
FREEDOM
“We are asking for freedom for our people and have no reason to kidnap expatriates,” MASSOB director of organisation Nnamdi Ohiagu told Reuters.
He said the men may have been seized by ransom-seekers encouraged by the kidnapping of foreigners in the southern delta.
Police had blamed MASSOB, which emerged in 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy after 15 years of military rule, for the abduction of about half a dozen local politicians and business people since late last year. The hostages were held for a few days and released after money changed hands.
Authorities had previously accused MASSOB members of numerous acts of violence, which the group denies. Its leader has been in detention since 2005 facing treason charges and hundreds of other activists have been arrested.
Different armed groups operating in the Niger Delta, which produces all of Nigeria’s oil, kidnapped scores of expatriates in January and February, mostly for ransom, though some have made political demands.
The latest kidnappings could heighten political tensions in Africa’s most populous country ahead of landmark polls in April. (Additional reporting by Tume Ahemba)