Workers freed after Nigeria kidnap ordeal
Six foreigners kidnapped in a nightclub raid in Nigeria’s southern oil region have been released.
The men were set free last night in the delta region, said Magnus Abe, spokesman for Rivers state government. Abe said he did not have information on who kidnapped the men.
An unidentified group of armed men snatched the six 10 days ago from a nightclub in Nigeria’s oil hub of Port Harcourt. The kidnappers arrived shooting into the air and sent scores of people rushing for cover. Officials said no one was injured.
The hostage group comprised an Irishman, two British men, an American, a Polish man and a German. The six work for a range of oil and construction companies.
“I appreciate everything everybody’s done for us. We’re having champagne,” Royce Parfait, of Tennessee, said by phone.
Hostage-takings have become nearly commonplace in Nigeria – Africa’s largest crude producer and a major US supplier – where tensions between multinational oil firms and poor local communities have also sparked attacks on oil installations.
The hostages are usually taken by groups seeking political concessions or payouts and are rarely harmed.
Sixteen kidnappings in the past two weeks led President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare a clampdown last week. The government arrested 160 people in the two-day crackdown, though most of those have since been released.
Abe said a Lebanese man taken in a different incident remained in captivity. He said earlier that all hostages kidnapped in recent weeks had been freed.
“We want to reassure international companies that Rivers state is a safe place to do business,” Abe said.
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