Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, on Sunday, disclosed that some workers of the American oil giant, Chevron Nigeria Limited, had been kidnapped by the Niger Delta militants at Okerenkoko, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta state.
Uduaghan said the oil workers were abducted on Thursday, shortly after the Vice-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, departed the creeks of Delta state.
He said the militants were protesting the failure of Jonathan to visit their communities on Thursday.
Uduaghan, who made this revelation, did not however reveal the number of oil workers abducted by the militants.
Uduaghan, in his message at the commencement of a 7-day prayer session declared by the Niger Delta Development Commission for the restoration of peace to Niger Delta at the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, on Sunday, said some workers of CNL were abducted by the militants on Thursday.
Uduaghan said the oil workers were yet to be freed as at Sunday.
He said, �Following logistic problems, the VP could not touch all the communities he was scheduled to touch.
�This sparked up another round of anger in the land on Thursday.
�The people got angry and felt they were left out. They even went as far as taking some workers of Chevron hostage, and we are on that, trying to calm and manage the situation up till Saturday evening.�
Udughan, however, accused the leaders and youths of the region of being the masterminds of the increasing act of abduction of expatriates, especially oil workers, in the region.
Uduaghan also decried the increasing involvement of the elders and leaders of the region in criminal activities.
He added that the development was unfortunate, saying that the prevailing insecurity in the region had led to exodus of investors from the area.
Uduaghan also stated that some investors had fled the region in the past few weeks.
Responding, an official of the CNL, who preferred anonymity said, �To the best of my knowledge, nothing like that happened.
� We are aware that Mr. Vice-President and the governor visited the area on Thursday, but was not told of any incident.