The four expatriates held hostage by militants since December 7 will celebrate Christmas with the armed men in an unknown Niger Delta creek.
The oil workers were kidnapped at the terminal of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company at Twon-Brass, headquarters of Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
They are three Italians, Messrs. Francesco Arena, Cosma Russa and Roberto Dieghi, who work for the Italian energy giant, ENI, which owns Agip, as well as a Lebanese, Mr. Ahmad Saliba, employed in the company�s catering department.
A youth leader in Bayelsa State, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent in Yenagoa on Sunday that it was unlikely that the expatriates would be released this festive period. He said care must be taken in negotiating for the release of the oil workers, so that the militants would not kill them.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil facility, which led to the death of a male youth from Twon-Brass, with cars, speed boats and houses set ablaze by the militant youths.
MEND declared that the group was not ready to negotiate with either the state government or Agip and that the four expatriates would only be released after the former Governor of Bayelsa state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, are set free.
The ex-governor is facing money laundering charges while Dokubo-Asari is standing trial for treason.
MEND, in an earlier e-mail statement, had declared that its fighters would launch further attacks on Nigeria�s oil industry in the following days, in pursuance of its pledge to halt crude oil exportation from Nigeria.
The management of Agip is still making efforts to secure the release of the four expatriates, but the militants maintain that they are not after ransom, but to ensure justice, equity and fairness in the Niger Delta.