MILITARY authorities in the Niger Delta have reported the arrest of some 300 persons suspected to be members of armed groups responsible for the mayhem and attacks on oil facilities in the region.
The series of arrests, which were confirmed yesterday by the spokesman of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Col Musa Sagir, came a few days after a militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), declared a unilateral cease-fire.
According to agency reports, the military offensive and mass arrest followed intelligence reports that the militants were on a new membership recruitment drive.
Amid the crackdown on criminal gangs in the region, the kidnappers of Mr. Betram Ajoku, the Finance Manager of the Integrated Logistics Services Limited (INTELS), have demanded N500 million as ransom.
But the Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, has declared that kidnapping, violence and other acts of criminality were a negation of the Niger Delta struggle.
A source close to Ajoku’s family told The Guardian yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, that the kidnappers had called Mrs. Mercy Ajoku on Sunday night to demand a ransom of N500 million if she wanted her husband, who was abducted five days ago, to be released alive.
And in Benue State, a former member of the House of Assembly, Mr. Nanevwua Uhondo, yesterday evening alleged that gunmen kidnapped his eldest son, Manasseh, in Makurdi, the state capital, at about 2.00 p.m.
On the clampdown on militants, Sagir told Agence France Presse (AFP) that half of those held were still with the police or have appeared before the courts, while others were freed for lack of incriminating evidence.
“From conservative estimates, around 300 suspects have been arrested,” Sagir said.
“As a result of the past weeks’ crisis, the militants admitted that they had lost some men, and it was because of the losses they encountered that they went into the communities to try and beef up their numbers,” he added.
Ajoku, the INTELS’ executive, was abducted last Thursday night as he was about to drive into his house at the Harmony Estate, off the East-West Road in the Rumukurushe axis of Port Harcourt.
The gunmen, who wore mobile policemen uniform shot Ajoku’s driver three times when he resisted the kidnap of his boss. They also riddled Ajoku’s Honda car with bullets before fleeing with him to an unknown destination.
The Guardian learnt that the gunmen allowed the wife of their victim to speak with him for a few minutes before they demanded the N500 million ransom. According to the source, the kidnappers directed Mrs. Ajoku to liaise with INTELS to raise the money.
Speaking at the first edition of the Niger Delta choral festival to mark Nigeria’s 48th Independence and 12th anniversary of Bayelsa State yesterday in Yenagoa, Governor Sylva called on youths in the Niger Delta to come out from the creeks and support the Federal Government’s efforts to develop the region.
He said: “We should strive to ensure that we portray our image as a people through music, which talents abound in the Niger Delta region by singing in harmonious voices.”
Sylva said talents in the region should be assisted to direct the attention of youths towards profitable ventures while presenting N1 million to each participating choral group.
Also, Rivers State Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, has called for greater unity among states in the Niger Delta to facilitate its development.
Ikuru observed that in principle, there seems to be unity but in practical terms, it has not been properly demonstrated.
In his message, the Bishop of Uyo Diocese, Anglican Communion, Rev. Isaac Orama, charged Niger Delta leaders to shun self-aggrandisement and work as a team to achieve the objectives of the Niger Delta struggle.
Orama also advised the people to seek God’s intervention in the Niger Delta crisis, saying that “we must come together because we have a role to play in actualising the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
In the Benue incident, Uhondo told The Guardian yesterday that he and his first son had gone to the High Brow Level area on Monday to photocopy some documents, when some persons drew his attention out of the business centre for discussion.
While outside the centre, Uhondu claimed that he heard commotion and when he rushed to the scene, the gunmen had kidnapped his son and drove him away in his old Toyota Corolla car, in addition to the vehicle they brought to the place.
He said that he was convinced that his son was kidnapped because the captors used their phone to call him after which they handed the phone to his son, who spoke with him 30 minutes after the operation.
The former lawmaker said that his son, who is 20 years old, attends Saint James Minor Seminary in Yandev, Gboko.
“It was after the call that I was convinced that it was not a robbery case. No robber would want to steal the old Toyota car that I am known with in the whole of Makurdi. I have a feeling that they were trailing me and thought that I was near the car at the time they struck. I believe they were after me, not my son,” Uhondo said.
He said that he has reported the matter to the B Division Police Station in Makurdi.
When contacted, the Benue State Police Commissioner, Ibiyinka Kayode, said that he would get details of the matter from the divisional police officer and declined further comments on the issue.
The Security Adviser to the Governor, Col. Benjamin Abohol (rtd), said that he was out of town and was yet to receive any information relating to the issue. He, however, said that he was rushing back to investigate the matter.
The kidnap of politicians or their children is not a phenomenon in Benue State.