Posted by From EMMANUEL OGOIGBE, Warri on
Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo has appealed to militant Ijaw youths to effect immediate release of the three remaining foreigners they have been holding hostage in the past few weeks.
Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo has appealed to militant Ijaw youths to effect immediate release of the three remaining foreigners they have been holding hostage in the past few weeks.
Expressing deep concern over the growing rate of kidnap of expatriate oil workers and senseless killings of military personnel in the area, Bozimo warned the youths not to take the laws into their hands as the Federal Government has expressed his willingness to look into their grievances.
According to him, hostage taking and killing of innocent souls would not solve the problems of the Niger Delta, but would rather push the Federal Government into taking decisive action that may not be good to the Ijaw people and the hostage takers.
Bozimo also commended President Obasanjo for the tact and diplomacy he has demonstrated so far in the handling of the Niger Delta crisis. Said he: 'He recently directed that there should be no more bombing and he has kept religiously to that promise."
He further explained that he decided to come out to make the special appeal to the youth because of his fear that the crisis may take an unpleasant turn if anything happened to any of the hostages. 'The youth did the right thing by releasing six hostages, but all of those advantages are now being threatened. My fear is that nothing should happen to the hostages and you can be sure that the Federal Government have more than enough capacity to deal with the situation," he cautioned.
According to him, 'I am ashamed and I cannot bottle up this feeling any more hence I am appealing seriously that this is the time to act, otherwise the consequences maybe too heavy to bear and let no one be in doubt that the Federal Government has the might to curtail it. But the position government his taking is that we are dealing with our children."
The minister, however, ruled out the fear of a possible invasion of the creeks by American and British forces and pleaded with the press to be resilient in making publications capable of aggravating the already tense situation.