Hostages releasedOfficials in Nigeria say militants in the south of the country have released 12 foreign hostages, whom they have been holding for several weeks.
3 American, 4 Brits, 1 South African, 1 Filipino, 3 Indian, as well as a Nigerian seized with them.
They were freed in Bayelsa state in the oil-rich Niger Delta, on what militants said were "humanitarian grounds".
One hostage said they had been subjected to mock executions.
Since January 2006, more than 180 foreign workers have been seized.
At least another 20 foreign workers are currently being held hostage in the region.
The government has pledged to address chronic under-development in the Niger Delta, which is home to Nigeria's multi-billion dollar oil industry, producing 90% of the country's export earnings.
The militants say they want more of the oil revenues to be spent on local communities.
Factional feud
One faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta freed the group, who had been taken captive in different attacks by gunmen last month.
Although humanitarian reasons were cited, the BBC Nigeria correspondent Alex Last says state governments and oil companies usually pay ransoms for hostages' freedom.
The faction that released the men is based in the western Niger Delta and is currently embroiled in a feud with the main faction based in the east.
The fact that so many hostages were released at one time appears to be an attempt to show that it has influence and power across the region and is also therefore a key player in any deal to address the crisis in the area, our correspondent says.
'Three days of hell'
Bayelsa Governor Timipre Sylva said there were now no more hostages in the state.
He picked up the group by helicopter and hosted them at a dinner.
One hostage, South African Duplooy Smit, told Reuters news agency that "the first three days were hell".
He had been taken hostage from an oil industry vessel on 25 May.
"There were a lot of mock executions," he said. "They were all high on local gin and marijuana, and carrying machine guns, so you never knew what would happen next."
Press report Shell may plan to relocate (Vanguard)
Beginning of the end?
Oil and gas industry exploration and production operators have served notice that an increase in militant attacks in the Niger Delta area may be imminent especially following advice from the British Home Office urging its nationals to leave Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) may also be considering relocating its Nigeria headquarters from Port Harcourt to Lagos on account of the order from the British home office.
A Shell staff who pleaded anonymity said the organisation could not function seamlessly without the input of key personnel. “Management will not stop these key personnel from leaving the area in line with advice from the British authorities,” he said, adding: “Under the circumstances, I believe the only option left to the management is to move the corporate headquarters back to Lagos. This is a veritable option. I don’t see any other at the moment.”
Contacted however, Mrs Diezani Allison Madueke, External Relations Director of SPDC, said she was not aware of any plan of the company to relocate its headquarters from Port Harcourt for any consideration whatsoever.
The advice from the British Home Office, she said, was for its nationals to leave the three states in question and came only a few days ago, adding that the company was currently considering how and if it would impact its operations.
“The decision on whether or not to leave is an individual thing. If your question is whether we would prevent any of our staff from leaving these areas, the answer is no, we wouldn’t,” she said.
Information from oil and gas industry operators in Port Harcourt, Yenagoa and Warri, however, indicates that the operator companies were afraid that militants might step up their attacks.
Vanguard gathered that their fear was fuelled by the advice from the British Home Office. There are indications that the American authorities may also urge their nationals to leave the area based on the recent Supreme Court decision denying the bail application of Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo, leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF).
Omehia decries SPDC’s planned exit from Rivers
Meanwhile, Governor Celestine Omehia of Rivers State has expressed concern over the planned relocation of Shell from Port Harcourt to Lagos.
Addressing a stakeholders meeting in Port Harcourt, Omehia said the development was another evidence of the dangerous dimension the activities of militants and hostage takings had assumed in the area.
He cautioned: “If Shell, a major oil company in Nigeria pulls out of Rivers, other subsidiary companies which have relationship with it will also pull out.”
The governor warned that the consequences of such pullout would worsen unemployment, poverty and hunger in the state and have an adverse effect on economic growth. Omehia appealed to the people to assist government with information that could help stem the scourge of hostage taking in the state.
He commended the people of Eleme who protested last week over the kidnapping of workers of Eleme Petrochemicals Company (Indorama). “This is the first time the people are openly demonstrating their disapproval of the kidnap menace,” Omehia, whose mother was a recent victim, said.
He declared: “The kidnappers appear to be operating for selfish reasons rather than fighting the Niger Delta cause. The truth is that kidnapping has become a business and no more a fight for the emancipation of the people of the Niger Delta and the economic development of the region,” and warned that his administration would not spare anyone involved in the act.
Shell sacks 6 managers
In Warri, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has declared a production crisis and sacked six managers even as it imposed severe restriction on business travels in and out of Nigeria except for those that have direct contribution to their top seven assets.
Vanguard gathered that the next group of SPDC staff to go in the current production crisis are those in Group 3 and others, thus, causing apprehension among the work force.
The cause of the sack, according to a company official, is that operations in the East has continued to suffer frequent setbacks due to the security environment and increasing level of sabotage on pipelines, saying production is currently about 690,000 barrels per day as against a target of 780,000 b/d and that radical measures must be put in place to bridge the gap.
It was further revealed that besides the impending sack, travel restriction could be further tightened depending on directives from the DMD/MD on travels across the entire company.
Fawehinmi, others demand release of Dokubo-Asari
Several eminent Nigerians and civil society groups yesterday in Lagos protested the continued detention of the leaders of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and Chief Ralph Uwazuruike of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).
The prominent citizens included leading human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) and the current President of the West African Bar Association, Mr. Femi Falana.
The protest took place shortly after a world press conference addressed by the Coalition for the Freedom of Dokubo and Uwazuruike (COFDU) at the secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Alausa, Ikeja.
The three-page speech was delivered before a cross section of both local and international journalists by the co-ordinator of the group Mr. Ayodele Akele.
Others present include Mujahilda, wife of Dokubo-Asari, and Ngozi, wife of Uwazuruike. There were also other leaders of over 30 civil rights organisations, including the Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC) and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).
Addressing the conference, Fawehinmi said: "We are here today to register our protest over the continuous detention in prison of Alhaji Dokubo-Asari and Dr. Ralph Uwazuruike. They have spent two years without trial and we are calling for their immediate and unconditional release."
According to the activist lawyer, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua has only one choice in the matter: The unconditional release of the two gentlemen from prison. This, Fawehinmi added, is for the interest of the country.
He urged Yar'Adua to invoke Section 174, sub-section (1) (c) of the 1999 Constitution and drop the charges in the interest of the nation by way of a nolle prosecui.
"The only thing left for the Federal Government is to release Dokubo-Asari and Dr. Ralph Uwazuruike if not this government will become illegitimate and the illegitimacy will be compounded. This government must not allow these men die in prison," Fawehinmi warned.
The eminent lawyer also urged the Yar'Adua government to convene a Sovereign National Conference where all Nigerians would come together and discuss the problems facing the country and proffer solutions.
On his part, Falana said that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other foreign law bodies would soon join in the crusade if the present government turned deaf ears to the calls for the release of the two men.
All those present also protested the planned secret trial of the duo.
The convener of the conference told the gathering that the coalition was concerned and committed to the restoration of peace in the Niger Delta region and indeed any part of Nigeria and felt disturbed about the continued incarceration of the two activists.
"We therefore resolved to engage all peaceful means not only to ensure the release of these activists, but for the restoration of peace in the Niger Delta region. Our objective is to rally support and carry along all well-meaning people about their (the detainees) plight and to galvanise the interest of Nigerians, activists, locally and internationally to see Dokubo-Asari, Ralph Uwazuruike and others released from detention without further delay," he said.
He also lamented the death of Uwazuruike's 85-year-old mother Madam Monica Uwazuruike whose only son is the detained Uwazuruike. He said her body was still lying in the mortuary while the only son was languishing in prison.
He condemned the Federal Government's plan to try the duo in secret from tomorrow.
Akele said: "There is also the dimension of a written undertaking (demanded by President Yar'Adua of Dokubo-Asari) as a condition for his release and of course the Supreme Court ruling denying him bail, and the conclusion, judgment before commencement of the trial, that he is a security risk."
He added: "In spite of violent repression and militarised approach over the years to resolve the Niger Delta crisis and indeed the South East MASSOB issue, the crisis has deteriorated to a frightening level."
He also noted that the improper handling of the crisis had led to "increased blood-letting, recurrent hostage taking, sporadic blow-up of oil facilities, loss of oil revenue and panicky withdrawal of foreign oil firms from the region."
Contributing to the matter, Dokubo-Asari's wife said that she was very optimistic that her husband would be freed since he never committed any offence.
"The Dokubo-Asari, I know can never commit those offences. He was only trying to liberate his people in the Niger Delta region."
Also the wife of Uwazuruike called on the Federal Government to release her husband so that he could come back home to take care of his children.
Obasanjo has set trap for Yar’Adua?
Former Minister of petroleum, Professor Tam David-West, has advised President Umaru Yar’Adua to sever whatever umblical cord he may share with former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, if his administration is to succeed.
David-West said the president must make a clean break from the connection he has with Obasanjo if he hopes to be accepted, popular and solve the legitimacy problem hanging on his neck.
According to the former minister, besides the burden of his relationship with his predecessor, Obasanjo does not mean well for his successor, judging by some last-minute actions he took in the twighlight of his government, such as the hike in prices of petroleum products, signing of 41 oil contracts and sale of the Egbin power station and Kaduna refinery, among others.
"All these are mischievous landmines planted for Yar’Adua to fail," the don said, describing the so-called Obasanjo legacies inherited by the president as ‘poisoned legacies.’
He counseled Yar’Adua to assert himself by reverting fuel price to N50 per litre, without which, he said, he would lose the support of Nigerians, even from his home base in the North.
Professor David-West also condemned the thank-you-visit on Chief Obasanjo in Ota by the Yar’Adua clan, led by the president’s mother, over his ascension, saying: "Whoever advised him (Yar’Adua) to do that does not wish him well. What he is saying by that is that it was Obasanjo who made him president.
Why can’t the family thank Nigerians for making him?"
In this interview, the ex-minister also spoke on the forthcoming Niger Delta summit called by the president and the United States’ reported plan to set up an African Command Centre and its implication on peace in the restive region, among other issues.
What’s your view on the forthcoming Niger Delta summit?
For the fact that he convened a meeting, I will, on the surface, say Yar’Adua should be commended for making it a priority. But he blew the chance of commendation because he called off the meeting, which shows that it is not of priority to him. I’ve said several times and in a lecture in Lagos in 1987 that unless Nigeria addresses the Niger Delta problem, it will be one of the greatest headaches for the country in the 21st century and beyond.
In spite of the credibility problem, one area that Yar’Adua can make an impact in is by re-writing the rule. If he makes a break-through in the Niger Delta or shows more seriousness than Obasanjo, his credentials would be improved.
It is not a question of inviting so-called Niger Delta leaders and putting them in five-star hotels in Abuja. No. The militants will not come out, but they have respect for certain people, credible people. He can engage these people and set out a programme. And the programme is simple – address the deprivation of the area, pure and simple.
He should address it or else, it will be like a festering sore and it will continue for a long, long time. It is notorious and mundane – no light, no road, no water, it’s all known. They know it now, and unless these social injustice are addressed, Nigeria will have no peace, because you cannot have peace without justice, it’s not possible. He should go beyond Obasanjo’s cosmetic approach. And it can be solved. We Ijaws are not blood thirsty people. The Ijaws are easy to get along with.
What will you advise the militants, on their approach to solving the issue, now that there’s a new government?
The new government has a fractured credibility. I know the psyche of these boys and men. They are not people you can carry away with cosmetic announcement. They know the roof is faulty and that it could soon fall away. One of the problems this government faces is lack of national and international legitimacy.
There are other problems. The major one is that Jonathan is not loved by the militants.
They don’t respect him, that is the truth and that is a fundamental problem for him. Without prejudice to what Alamieyeseigha did wrong, he commands their respect. Jonathan cannot form a bridge. He can only form a propaganda bridge. Look at what they did to him earlier. Any Ijaw that is not a bastard will know that Obasanjo cannot pick Ijaw representative into government.
He cannot stay in Aso Rock, pick Yar’Adua from Katsina and say, Nigerians this is your president, then he comes to Ijaw and do same. Look, the Yar’Adua/Jonathan ticket has a fundamental flaw. They (militants) have always seen him as a stooge and black leg. So, they are not likely to see him as a representative of the Ijaw cause in Abuja.
What is your comment on the reported plan by the US to have an African Command Centre, which may see America moving its forces into the restive Niger Delta region to assist government counter militant problems?
I laugh, I laugh. US is a super power, you understand me. But US should remember what happened to it in Vietnam, where a Third World country chased them out and gave them bloody nose. The point I am making is, you don’t fight people fighting a moral war, with machine guns and tanks. The Ijaws are fighting a moral war and you cannot defeat them with all the machine guns and arsenals in their armoury. I have a feeling it’s just shakara. If they want an African command, they should go to Dafur. They should never dare it in Nigeria because they’ll be defeated, like in Vietnam. It will even be worse. They cannot turn Nigeria into another Iraq. Nigeria’s oil is not for political thing.
Do you see President Yar’Adua breaking from former President Obasanjo?
If Yar’Adua wants people to forgive him and solve the legitimacy problem, the umbilical cord with Obasanjo will have to be severed. The legacies handed over to him by Obasanjo are all poisoned legacies … why did Obasanjo increase fuel pump price before he left? It is a design to make Yar’Adua’s government fail. Why did Obasanjo signed 41 oil contracts before he left? Why did Obasanjo sell Egbin Power station, Kaduna refinery and petrochemicals before he left? All these are mischievous landmines and trap planted for Yar’Adua to fail. So, he’ll have to sever the umbilical cord with Obasanjo. He must make oil price drop to N65 per litre, even below N65.
If I were Yar’Adua, I’ll revert it to N50 per litre. If he fails to do it, even the North will revolt against him. He will have no home base. And it was an unwise thing that Yar’Adua sent his mother and the entire Yar’Adua family to thank Obasanjo in Ota.
Whoever advised him to do that does not wish him well. What he is saying is that it was Obasanjo who made him president. Why can’t the family thank Nigerians for making him president? It is a signal that he’s tied to Obasanjo’s apron string. If the apron string stays, that means there’ll be a link between Ota and Aso Rock and he would not last.
120 Indians quit Nigerian oil firm after kidnappings
Around 120 Indian nationals working for the Eleme Petrochemical Company in southern Nigeria have left the region or the country following two kidnappings, a company spokesman said yesterday.
“The majority of expatriate Indians — mostly engineers and technicians — have relocated, mostly as a result of the attacks. The majority have gone back to India,” Jossy Nkwocha said.
He said production had been affected at Eleme Petrochemical, located on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, the capital of oil-rich Rivers State, which was attacked twice in quick succession.
On May 19 two Indian nationals were abducted from the company’s premises in an incident that left one civilian killed and another injured.
On June 1 a total of 10 people - three senior managers, three workers and four family members, two women and two children, were seized from the company’s residential compound, Nkwocha said.
Local police sources had previously said seven people were kidnapped in the second attack.
This is only the third recorded kidnapping incident in which women or children have been targeted.
Many of the departures happened immediately after the second attack and the remainder last week after the Indian foreign ministry warned its nationals against travel to the interiors of Nigeria in the wake of the kidnappings, Nkwocha said.
He said most of the Indians had gone back home to India given the high cost of living in Lagos or Abuja.
Nkwocha said the company is without news of those who were abducted.
“The government has told us it’s making efforts. Apart from those efforts we haven’t heard much,” he said.
Nkwocha denied press reports that the petrochemicals plant has shut down completely but admitted, “the exodus of expats has affected our production and it is partially shut down.”
Indian company Indorama, which bought Eleme Petrochemical, said about 3,000 people employed by the company might also lose their jobs, unless it got government backing to provide security.
“The fleeing expatriates promised to be back when the security situation in the state improved,” chairman of the Indorama workers union Kriss Natty said.
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