Hostage takers released a Lebanese national Friday after seizing the man more than two weeks ago during a spate of kidnappings in Nigeria’s southern oil region, officials said.
Danny Khoury, bearded and pale, told reporters after his release that he had been abused and not allowed to bathe while his captors tried to secure a ransom.
“They were bad, they beat me sometimes because negotiations were going badly,” he said. “They wanted money, but it never reached their hands.”
The deputy governor for Rivers State, Benjamin Elue, said that kidnappers had asked for about $400,000 for Khoury’s release, but that ransom was not paid.
“Anyone who collaborates with the hostage takers by way of giving incentives is guilty of terrorism against the Nigerian state,” he said.
At least 19 foreign workers were kidnapped from the southern Niger Delta region last month.
Khoury, who was seized Aug. 16, was the last hostage being held after a spate of kidnappings in Rivers State, state spokesman Magnus Abe said. “To my knowledge there are no more hostages being held” in that area, he said.
Four other foreigners seized in neighboring Bayelsa State have also been released — apparently leaving no more foreigners in captivity in southern Nigeria. Bayelsa State officials were not immediately available to confirm that.
Citizens in the Niger Delta say the kidnappings are meant as protest against the international oil companies and the federal government, which controls the petroleum revenues and divvies it up among the 36 states.
Despite the massive energy resources lying beneath their lands, the vast majority of the region’s people are mired in extreme poverty and say ransoms from kidnappings is a way of righting perceived inequities. Government officials say the hostage takers are little more than criminals seeking payouts.
The kidnappings, along with sabotage attacks, have cut Nigerian production by more than 20 percent since the beginning of the year. The country is Africa’s biggest oil exporter and the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the United States.