THE militant group holding three remaining hostages since February 18 in the Niger Delta has denied reports that they are missing. The group also denounced the opportunism that has been introduced into their struggle for justice and equitable distribution of resources in the region.
The militants kept the hostages, two Americans and a Briton back, after six others (including 69 year-old American, Macon Hawkins) were released last Wednesday by the group.
The Ijaw militants also denied reports that they have changed their name from Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) led by one Dr. Bello Oboko.
Sources close to the group that had taken hostages twice in the Niger Delta also told The Guardian last night that they were not involved in the bombing of the oil installation at Agge, Ekeremor Local Council, Bayelsa State at the weekend.
The MEND was reported to have said that even though they did not commission the motley groups in the region to do anything on their behalf, they would not condemn their action, as the various organisations were also aggrieved one way or the other.
According to the sources the MEND spoke to, the blasting of the Agge, Ekeremor manifold would have been made possible because of the absence of security in the region after the attacks in January when four hostages were taken.
The group reiterated its warning that a bigger attack was yet to take place in the Niger Delta that would reduce the country’s ability to export oil by about one million barrels daily. The previous attacks have caused a reduction in the nation’s oil export by about 458,000 daily.
MEND said what was happening was close to the attack of some oil companies in Port Harcourt in January when mushroom groups capitalised on its activities to rob some companies in the city and killed some policemen in the process. The group said that it had not mandated anybody to speak to government on its behalf and that their demands have not changed or been added to.
The group had been calling for greater control of oil resources in the region, payment by Shell Petroleum Development Company of $1.5 billion to Ijaws for ecological degradation of their communities arising from oil activities, and the release of two Ijaw leaders currently facing separate trials for alleged money embezzlement and treason.
The Federal Government in the wake of the abduction of the nine oil workers last month set up a negotiating panel headed by Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, to secure their release. Government also halted the aerial bombings of suspected barges engaged in illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta that the militants claimed killed innocent Ijaws.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, had at the weekend said that the government and the oil companies could restore oil production in the areas where, as a result of the action of the militants, petroleum production was suspended.
Mar72006