SIX foreign oil workers abducted by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have regained their freedom.
The hostages who are nationals of India and Poland were abducted last Friday from an offshore oil facility operated by Saipem, off the coast of Bonny in Rivers State.
MEND, which handed the hostages over to the Secretary of the Presidential Peace and Reconciliation Committee for the Niger Delta, Kingsley Kuku, however accused the Federal Government of complicity in the arrest of its member, Henry Okah in Angola last month.
Meanwhile, security operatives have accused the committee of unilaterally negotiating the release of the workers.
Kuku, who led others to secure their freedom, told The Guardian yesterday that the militants handed over the men to him about 3:45.
He explained that the committee had contacted the militants shortly after they claimed responsibility for the attack, which forced ENI to cut its oil production by about 50,000 barrels per day, and persuaded them to free the expatriates, a request they obliged yesterday.
“They told us to pick the men at 10:00 p.m. on Monday. We got to the point and waited till 1:45 a.m. Having waited for so long, we decided to leave and just as we got to University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), they called and we waited till 3:45 a.m. when they brought the men,” he said.
Kuku said the militants hinged their action on the arrest of Henry Okah in Angola. According to him, MEND accused the Federal Government of complicity in the matter and demanded its intervention to free Okah since the Angolan authorities have not been able to prove any crime against him.
Saipem’s parent company ENI, yesterday said ” around 4 a.m. Italian time, six Polish and Indian workers – seized on October 26 during an armed men attack occurred at the FPSO Mystras vessel some 85 km off Nigerian coast – have been freed. The six workers are in good health.” MEND had attacked the oil facility located some 85 km off Bonny coast.
The attackers, according to ENI managed to climb aboard the vessel and seized the six workers, whose nationalities are Polish and Indian. Another Nigerian worker was reported to be slightly injured on one leg.
Floating Production Storage and Offloading FPSO, is a vessel for production, storage and offloading of crude oil.
Kuku, however, denied that ransom was paid to the militants, saying that the committee acted with the terms of reference given to it by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
According to him, “no ransom was paid. They (militants) did not request for ransom.”
A source in the Joint Task Force in Rivers State who sought anonymity yesterday expressed dismay that the committee unilaterally negotiated the release of the hostages. He said there are indications that the company might have paid ransom to the kidnappers.