Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Dr. William Ehwarieme
11. Kidnapping 15/10/07 Southern-
Unknown 1 Nigerian 15/10/07
Ijaw, BYS
Source: Culled from Police Crime Diary, Bayelsa State Command in
(Eseduwo, 2008:503)
From the table, we find that three of the cases, that is, serial
numbers 7-10 representing 27.2% of the cases were those in which
the victims were family members of politicians who were members of
the Bayelsa State House of Assembly (BYHA) and the one reason for
the kidnaps was “welfare of militants”. This represents the category
with the highest number of cases and reflects the reality across the
region. Although it is the cases that affect the oil industry and
especially those which involve expatriates that seem to attract more
attention, more of the cases of kidnappings in the Niger Delta have
been of members of the political class and their families who are
indigenes of the region. It is also significant to note that the common
grouse is the militants’ welfare which means that the members of the
families of politicians were kidnapped in order to extort money from
the politicians who live in islands of comfort in the midst of
impoverished folks some of whom were used as ladder to ascend to
office. While the foregoing facts point to the use of militants as
political thugs as one of the reasons for the transformation of
unemployed youths into kidnappers, they also reveal that
increasingly, the angst of the youths are being directed at their fellow
Niger Deltans rather than the Federal Government and oil companies.
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