It seems that there has been no change in the level of violence and kidnappings now that the Nigerian elections have drawn to their widely predictable conclusion of lacking any credibility within Nigeria itself or in the world community.
In Rivers State, the mother of the Governor (elect), Celestine Omeiha was abducted last night. There is a court case this week, which will rule whether Mr Omeiha was actually the candidate for the governing PDP or Rotimi Amaechi (Rotimi was arrestedafter an investigation into the ownership of Arik air and the misuse of N100 billion state funds
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Meanwhile, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the FSO Oloibiri, near the Funiwa, off the coast of Bayelsa State, today. The militants are believed to have taken over a supply boat, killed a Nigerian Navy sailor and compelled the crew on the Oloibiri to throw down a rope for them to board, or they would dynamite the ship. They took 4 Italian, one American and one Croatian hostage. MEND have said that they will release the hostages unconditionally on May 30, 2007, but this will only be posible if the oil companies and Bayelsa state government make no attempts to secure the release of these hostages by offering ransom. Any such offers will be viewed as a slight and will compound the situation of these hostages. MEND has also stated;
We promised to give the present nigerian administration a shameful send-off. This attack is one in a series intended to embarras the out-going regime. It is also a warning to the incoming government which we view as an extension of the present. We will continue with our struggle for justice until we achieve all our goals without exception.
They also threatened action against Shell if they return to fields which MEND has previously attacked in Bayelsa and Delta states.
It seems likely that actions such as these will continue unabated because there are now so many groups who have been heavily armed by crooked politicians that it will be almost impossible to get them to surrender their weapons. The new government, lacking a true mandate or credibility may make some token attempt to crackdown on the militants soon after assuming power, will revert to business as usual, but there are now too many armed groups over here who have discovered how much money is to be made from kidnapping expatriates for life to return to what used to thought of as usual
