TWO naval personnel and an unspecified number of State Secret Service (SSS) operatives were reported kidnapped yesterday during a clash between suspected militants and men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) off an oil platform in Soku, Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The incident came after the leadership of the Ijaw apex body, the Ijaw National Council (INC), said it was working secretly to dissuade the culture of kidnapping foreigners working in the Niger Delta by militants.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that heavily armed men, suspected to be militants, loaded in seven speedboats, clashed with men of the JTF and went away with two of them at the end of the battle.
According to a source in the naval circle, some SSS men were also abducted along with the naval men.
But when contacted to confirm the involvement of his men, the director of the SSS in Rivers State, Alhaji Kola Adesina, said none of his men was involved in any such attack, neither was any of them kidnapped.
When reached, the state�s Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, referred the question back to the SSS authorities, saying they were in the best position to confirm such an incident.
Meanwhile, the president of the Ijaw National Council (INC), Professor Kimse Okoko, has said they were reaching out to the youth of their nationality who are involved in the ongoing insurgency in the Niger Delta to desist from taking expatriate workers in the region as hostages.
Professor Okoko, who disclosed this to journalists in Port Harcourt over the weekend, said though he still opposed injustice, taking expatriate workers as hostages as a tool in the fight was doing the Niger Delta serious image injury in the international community.
He urged the Federal Government to address the Niger Delta crisis sincerely, saying the persistent crisis in the Niger Delta region was as a result of the continuous oppression and dislocation of the people.
�We will not deny the youth the right to struggle against oppression. The Federal Government is not serious about addressing the problem of environmental degradation, gas flaring and dumping of petroleum products in the sea.�
He applauded the nomination of the Bayelsa State governor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, as the running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar�Adua, adding that this would help in solving the Niger Delta crisis.