A previously unknown group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a German contractor last week in Nigeria and demanded the release of two jailed leaders as a condition for his freedom.
The demands of the Movement of the Niger Delta People echo those of other groups in Nigeria’s southern oil heartland, where an increasingly violent insurgency has forced the world’s eighth largest oil exporter to cut output by a quarter since February.
”The Movement of the Niger Delta People hereby claims full responsibility for the possession and custody of Mr Didone Shephard,” the group said in an e-mail to the media, demanding the release from jail of a former militia leader and a former governor from the area.
The group also demanded that the hostage’s employer, construction firm Bilfinger and Berger, provide more infrastructure and jobs to the communities where they work. It said it did not want a ransom.
Nigerian police and the German Foreign Ministry said they did not have any new information on the hostage and were not aware of the statement.
An oil industry source said he thought the claim of responsibility was probably genuine, although the group was previously unknown.
The German was abducted by armed men in military fatigues from his car on a busy highway in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt last Thursday, and taken into the surrounding creeks on a speedboat.
A day later, three Filipino oil workers were abducted by gunmen from a bus in the nearby Bonny oil and gas complex in an apparently unrelated incident.
They were the latest in a series of attacks and kidnappings to hit Nigeria’s energy industry, which is mostly operated by Western companies. Attacks by another militant group in February forced Shell to evacuate its workers from the western delta and close a quarter of the country’s output.
The attacks are fuelled by widespread feelings of injustice in the vast wetlands region, where most people live in poverty despite the riches being pumped from their ancestral lands.
The delta is also home to dozens of militia groups, often controlled by local politicians, some of which are involved in the large-scale theft of crude oil from pipelines and extortion of foreign companies.
Like in other parts of Nigeria, much of the money intended for local development is stolen by elected officials, civil society groups say. – Reuters