ON a day it released six hostages and announced a freeze on attacks on oil workers and facilities for one month, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) it turned the heat on President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The dominant militia group operating in the region accused the President of toeing the path of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in handling the delicate issues of the Niger Delta.
It said that the Yar’Adua administration wants to “tread the path of its predecessor by staging carnivals in Abuja and dialoguing with individuals from the delta” who, it said, “have been proven to be incapable of assisting in quelling the unrest in the delta.”
According to the MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, in an email to The Guardian yesterday while announcing the release of the kidnapped men, the militants were ready for dialogue through intermediaries, and in the presence of a neutral arbiter acceptable to all.
He said: “As long as indigenes of the Niger Delta are held by the Nigerian government unjustly, we will continue with the abduction of oil workers and encourage all groups in the delta to do likewise.”
But he promised that “we will suspend attacks on oil installations for one month, a period, which we hope the government will take advantage of to ruminate on positive and realistic measures towards a just peace in the delta.
“Following this period, we will resume attacks on installations and oil workers in the delta with greater purpose,” he warned.
In the interim, suspected militants, dressed as policemen and soldiers, yesterday kidnapped four foreign oil workers from their residential compound in the Rumuogba area of Port Harcourt.
Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, confirmed the seizure of the four workers by yet to be identified militia group.
She told The Guardian that about eight gunmen camouflaged as riot policemen and soldiers went to a club in a residential compound owned by the oil services giant, Schlumberger Anadrill, in the early hours of yesterday and abducted the four men.
A source at the firm said security men at its gate mistook the gunmen for genuine policemen and soldiers, hence they failed to restrict their access.
According to the source, two of the gunmen, who pretended to be looking for one of their colleagues, went into the club while the rest stayed behind.
While inside the club, the men brought out their guns and ordered the four expatriates to follow them. The hostages, each from Britain, Holland, Pakistan, and France were said to have complied and were taken away. The source revealed that no one was hurt during the attack.
Yesterday’s abduction followed the kidnapping of 10 persons from Indorama Petrochemical Company residential compound, at Akpajo-Eleme on Friday. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
Barasua said the Police are “appealing to members of the public to furnish them with information that will lead to the unravelling of those behind the spate of abductions in the state.”
But those released yesterday are John Stapleton, Ignazio Gugliotta, Alfonso Franza, Raffaele Pascariello, Mario Celentano and Jurica Ruic.
Gbomo said the hostages were handed over to the Bayelsa State, Governor, Timipre Sylva, who was accompanied by Senator David Brigidi to the camp where the men were being held.
But he cautioned: “This release, in no way, signifies our intention to halt abductions, but preparedness to dialogue with a willing government.
The founding President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Felix Tuodulo has said that genuine leaders in the delta were willing to assist the government in finding a lasting solution to the crisis in the region “if it shows commitment and sincerity in resolving the demands of the people.”
“In every community, people know who are suspects and those likely to do such things as kidnapping,” he said. “The genuine activists are ready to help fish out these criminals.
“But in a situation where the people are getting poorer, their resources mismanaged, environment destroyed, these factors do not give us the will and power to tackle these societal ills. Government must show sincerity,” he said.