Gunmen in Nigeria’s southern Bayelsa State on Monday kidnapped two Lebanese nationals, two days after a British oil worker was seized from an offshore rig, national police spokesperson Haz Iwendi said.
”It is true that the two Lebanese nationals were kidnapped this morning in Bayelsa State,” Iwendi told Agence France-Presse (AFP) by telephone, without giving details.
Industry sources told AFP that the foreigners, who were working for Setraco, a Nigerian construction firm, were abducted at about 7am local time in Yenagoa, the state capital.
They said the kidnap was likely to have been carried out by members of a local community angry at the company over provision of infrastructure.
The identities of the Lebanese and the circumstances surrounding their kidnap are still unknown.
The abduction took place barely 48 hours after a British oil worker was kidnapped from an offshore rig in the western Niger Delta, which was also the target of a raid last year.
The company that manages the rig said on Monday direct negotiations were taking place with the group that abducted Scot Gordon Gray.
A spokesperson for Dolphin Drilling, the Scottish company which manages the rig, told AFP that the negotiations were happening through Nigerian oil company Peak, its operator.
”We know that they have made contact with the abductors and are working to secure a release,” he added.
”They have spoken directly to the man abducted by phone and I believe they are now face-to-face.”
He added that he did not know which group had abducted the man, although an industry source has claimed it was local people.
Setraco (Nigeria) Limited was established 30 years ago as an engineering construction company specialising in building highways, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
Since the start of this year, about 60 foreigners have been kidnapped in Nigeria, as many as were abducted during the whole of 2006.
The foreigners, most of whom have been released unharmed, were abducted by a mixture of criminal gangs out to make ransom money and armed groups with a political agenda.
Groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), which recently held two Italian hostages for three months, say they are seeking a fairer distribution of Nigeria’s oil revenues.
The last two hostages taken in southern Nigeria, an Indian and a Lebanese, were released March 25 after a few days in captivity.
But there is still no news of a Dutch man kidnapped March 23 from Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil capital, in the southern Rivers State, despite the deployment of military search parties to look for him.
And two Chinese nationals abducted on March 17 in the south-eastern state of Anambra also remain missing.
Reduced output due to unrest cost Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, $4,4-billion last year, according to officials. — AFP
