NIGER DELTA: Two Kidnapped Oil Workers Found Dead

DELTA STATE POLICE COMMISSIONER ALHAJI YAKUBU ALKALI.

Warri, Delta March 22 (THEWILL) - As security remains an issue unsolved in the Niger Delta originating from agitations due to a long marginalization of Niger Deltans by the Nigeria government, reports of kidnapping, vandalization of oil facilities and other related criminal activities have continued to dominate national discourse.

THEWILL has learnt that two workers of National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Benin City, Edo State, Messrs. Danjuma Bashir and Malabu Ahmad, believed to have been kidnapped since March 13, have been found dead in a bush at Mosogar area of Delta State.

Unconfirmed report claimed that an un-identified contractor with the company was also kidnapped last Wednesday and his fate currently hangs in the balance.

Sources say that their remains were found on Saturday morning by a joint search team of Police, State Security Service and workers put in place by Edo State government.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN), the union to which the deceased workers belonged, in a swift reaction, described the kidnap and subsequent murder of the workers as not only shocking, but a renewed act of criminality against oil workers that would not be tolerated.

The victims were said to have left Benin separately for the Delta State University, Abraka but never got there. They were stopped and taken by suspected gunmen who drove heading towards Delta State. Although it could not be ascertained whether they were driven away in their own cars or not, a source, however, lamented that all efforts to trace them proved abortive until they were found dead in the bush over a week later.

Police authorities are investigating but no persons have been arrested.