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

Chapter IV: Fishers of Men: The Political Economy of Kidnapping in the
Niger Delta
This implies an awareness of the roles the elites from the region are
playing in the underdevelopment of the area.
The table also shows that an equal number of two cases
representing 18.1% each concerned oil companies and ransom, that
is, serial numbers 1 and 6; and serial numbers 10 and 11
respectively. Only one case, serial number 4 was directed at agents of
the Nigerian state, policemen and for reasons of lack of legitimate
source of livelihood. This, taken together, with the two cases in which
two Nigerians were kidnapped for ransom , and, in fact, the three
cases where the welfare of militants were the demands, underscore
the crucial role of unemployment in the emergence of the
phenomenon of kidnapping.
Finally, from the table, we observe that another three cases or
27.2% of the cases, that is serial numbers 2, 3 and 5 involved
patently political demands. While the first of these relate to a local
issue, the impeachment of the Speaker of the House of Assembly and
the Governor of Bayelsa State, the rest two were directed at the
Federal Government. Serial number 5 was actually a protest against
the Federal Government’s detention of former Bayelsa Governor,
D.S.P. Alamieyesigha after his escape from detention in London over
money laundering charges and subsequent impeachment. However,
the one which is not only political but also more directly related to the
Niger Delta struggles and one consistent with the new trend which
began in 2005 with the Wilbros staff kidnaps, is serial number 3 in
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