Jonathan warns militants to desist or face fire

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned criminals who continue to hide under acronyms to engage in criminal acts of self-enrichment that they no longer have a hiding place, as orders have been given to law enforcement agencies to hunt them down. The President also affirmed that government will continue to pursue its programmes for the re-orientation, rehabilitation and reintegration of all genuine militants who had laid down their arms under the amnesty programme.

He commended the military high command and officers and men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta for the safe rescue of the seven foreign and 12 Nigerian oil workers held by kidnappers in the region, yesterday.“While the Federal Government will continue to take all necessary steps to guarantee the safety of lives and property, as well as the security of oil workers and installation in the Niger Delta, all law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear,” the president said.

The security forces yesterday handed the freed hostages to their employers on Thursday.The release of the hostages is seen as a victory for Mr Jonathan’s administration.

Charles Omoregie, commander of a military taskforce in the Niger Delta, said the military had taken over several suspected militant camps in the region’s three main states, including those run by a newly emerging kingpin, known as Obese.“Two camps have been taken over in Delta, two in Bayelsa and three in Rivers ... (The hostages) were all rescued from Obese’s camp here in Rivers state after a sustained military operation.” He said the raids started on Monday and that Obese, thought to be a newfield commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)militant group, had contacted the security forces via former militant leaderswho accepted amnesty last year to tell them he was ready to surrender.

Mr Omoregie praised the role that former MEND field commanders, including Boyloaf and Farah Dagogo, who acceptedlast year’s amnesty, played in ensuring the release of the hostages.

Shocking Experience

The seven expatriates were taken from an offshore oil rig operated by exploration firm Afren on November 7. Eight of the Nigerians were abducted from an Exxon Mobil platform a week later, while the remaining four were employees oflocal construction firm Julius Berger.

One hostage, Canadian Robert Croke, described the ordeal.“It was a shocking experience. They gave us mattresses to sleep on,virtually nothing else. We were begging for food and water because what we were exhausted,” he told reporters. “We were not maltreated, they were not hostile to us, it was just that we lacked the basic necessities.”