Some members of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) have claimed credit for
securing the release of crewmen kidnapped by suspected pirates a fortnight
ago off Bayelsa coast.
The youth leaders led by former Secretary-General of IYC, Mr. Udengs
Eradiri spoke to newsmen Thursday in Yenagoa, in the company of the five
Pakistanis, said that the captives were freed in the early hours of
Wednesday after twelve days in captivity.
Eradiri, who claimed to have led some members of the IYC to
facilitate the release of the expatriates, however, said that no ransom
was paid to the kidnappers to secure freedom for the Pakistanis.
The Security officials in Bayelsa have maintained ignorance of the
incident and have distanced themselves from it, a development the youths
may have capitalized on to make claims that they secured the release of
the oil workers. The Joint Task Force spokesperson had said that the task force did
not get a report about the incident and claimed that the crime was
committed outside its jurisdiction and shifted the responsibility to the
navy.
The five Pakistanis, Rashid Igbal, Wajid Muhammad, Waqas Admed,
Mushtag Admed and Mujtaba Ghlum Muhammad, all working for Matrix Energy,
an oil marketing and trading company.
Mujtaba Ghlum Muhammad, the leader of the crew, while narrating
their ordeal said they were whisked away by gunmen numbering about five
in a speed boat along the Akassa river in Bayelsa. "They came in one
speed boat, disposed us of our cash and valuables under gunpoint and
asked us to enter their boat, before forcefully taking us away... We
spent twelve days in the bush," he said.
Muhammad told reporters that
the pirates had complained of the government's insensitivity to their
plight as jobless youths, adding that bad leadership had left them with
hopelessness.
"These people are complaining about government. I heard them talk
calling their boss 'General', they say they are doing this business
because the government was not caring"
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