Posted by By Samuel Oyadongha on
YENAGOA - FOUR naval personnel attached to an oil rig belonging to a Nigerian firm have been kidnapped by Ijaw youths who also seized their rifles....
YENAGOA - FOUR naval personnel attached to an oil rig belonging to a Nigerian firm have been kidnapped by Ijaw youths who also seized their rifles. Police sources, however, said only one security agent was abducted. The youths numbering over 50 reportedly attacked the oil company based at Sangana, off the Atlantic coast of Bayelsa in Brass local government area early yesterday.
This is the second time in as many years that the area would record abduction over alleged insensitivity of the oil company to the plight of the locals and non implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into with the community.
The naval officers were said to have been taken to an unknown destination. The victims whose names could not be immediately ascertained were said to be on duty at the oil facility located offshore. It was reliably gathered that the protesting youths took over the rig after overpowering the security operatives.
Sources said the company did not involve the state government or any of its agents in the signing of the MoU. A source said the signing of the MoU ought to have taken place in Yenagoa, the state capital instead of Lagos where it was reportedly signed. Angered by this development, the youths were said to have stormed the platform in about seven speed boats.
Contacted, state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Hafiz Ringim, said he was yet to confirm the incident but heard the news from a sister organisation, adding that he learnt a retired naval officer from the area was abducted by the youths but that the police were yet to confirm. 'I heard the news from a sister organisation but have not confirmed it," he said.
Former governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha sometime ago risked his life on the high sea to broker the release of some expatriates held hostage by the company staff.