Robin Hughes, one of two British hostages held captive for more than 7 months by MEND was released on Sunday citing health reasons, but they have said that a second hostage Matthew McGuire will be held indefinitely:
“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) can confirm that the British hostage, Mr. Robin Barry Hughes regained his freedom about 1730Hrs today, Sunday April 19, 2009 after he was handed over to contacts who in turn handed him over to his employers. We did not hand him over to the military who might want to take some credit as they are considered our enemy and has not played any role in this transaction. The credit for this release goes to Henry Okah who requested that Robin be released on compassionate ground. Henry’s message was delivered through a reliable source who we have no reason to doubt. The remaining hostage, Mr Macguire will remain in our custody until further notice. We need to reiterate once again that no ransom was requested or received for this release even though we were asked to name our price by the Minister of State for the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsay Orubebe. MEND wonders why the government and military have not yet blamed the recent spate of commercial kidnappings in other parts of Nigeria on Niger Delta militants who they falsely accuse for those carried out in the region just to give our legitimate struggle a bad name.” Jomo Gbomo
A 45 year old Canadian woman visiting Nigeria as part of an exchange programme for Rotary International, was kidnapped in Kaduna last week. In an interview with journalists a police spokesman made a statement which sums up the whole reason policing and security are so screwed up in this country
a police spokesman had said that the organisation had been irresponsible in housing the visitors in private residences instead of more secure hotel facilities. They also said that proper notification of the visit should have been given to security forces.
Just imagine if a visitor to USA or North America had been kidnapped and a police spokesman came out with a statement like that. It would be greeted with outrage, but in NIgeria nobody thinks it anything other than normal
Still, if the tanker driver's strike in Lagos goes on much longer and the fuel shortage affects the entire country, at least it may affect the kidnappers and armed robbers' ability to go out and committing their crimes
