http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5639864-146/gunmen_kidnap_five_from_afren_oil.csp

Gunmen kidnap five from Afren oil rig in Nigeria

By Nick Tattersall


Gunmen in Nigeria have attacked an offshore oil rig operated by exploration firm Afren, kidnapping five crew members including foreigners and injuring two others, the company said on Monday.

Nigeria's main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), made no immediate claim of responsibility but threatened to carry out new attacks on oil infrastructure in Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.

The attack took place on Sunday in the shallow-water Okoro oilfield off the Obolo local government area of Akwa Ibom.

"Two crew members are stable after receiving wounds to the leg, and have been evacuated by helicopter to a shore-based clinic. It is believed that five crew members have been taken hostage," Afren said in a statement.

A security source in Nigeria said those kidnapped were believed to be two French nationals, two U.S. citizens and one Canadian national, though there was no confirmation of this from the security services or Afren.

Afren said the High Island VII jackup rig had recently arrived in the Okoro field and was preparing to begin drilling. It said drilling activities were temporarily suspended. Afren shares were down more than 8 percent in London.

The company said there had been a second security breach at a support vessel but that both the rig and the vessel were now under its control.

Akwa Ibom lies on the edge of the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region home to foreign oil firms whose infrastructure had been repeatedly attacked for years until an amnesty was agreed last year.

MEND said in a statement emailed to media on Monday that it would launch a series of attacks on oil infrastructure in the coming days. It also said it was holding one Thai and three French nationals who were kidnapped several weeks ago and had since been transferred to its custody.

Thousands of gunmen laid down their weapons under the amnesty deal brokered by President Goodluck Jonathan last year, including the main known field commanders of MEND.

But the militants were always highly factionalised and some armed gangs with grievances against foreign oil firms remain active, security sources say.

A resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta would be an embarrassment for Jonathan, who is the first Nigerian head of state from the Niger Delta and who faces a tough battle in presidential elections expected next April.

up mend!

oyb:

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5639864-146/gunmen_kidnap_five_from_afren_oil.csp

up mend!

U do not improve d brightness of Ribadu candle by putting out Jonathan's candle. Mend's or any other violent attacks on innocent people shud b condemned by all.,.,.,your relation may be working on that rig wen next MEND call;u know?

Solomon227:

U do not improve d brightness of Ribadu candle by putting out Jonathan's candle. Mend's or any other violent attacks on innocent people shud b condemned by all.,.,.,your relation may be working on that rig wen next MEND call;u know?

i suggest you go through my profile posts

i have always referred to mend as terrorists

i am being sarcastic

not so long ago, any news of attacks by mend would b greeted by "up mend!", mostly by the people who have now turned blind supporters of gej

its interesting watching them fall over themselves condemning henry okah, who so many of them lionized

i somehow suspect that if this had happened a year ago, with umya in the seat, you would also be cheering the 'indefatigable freedom fighters '

oyb,

You are so correct. One of the main culprits is Beaf. To name a few. Sad but true.

EzeUche0:

oyb,

You are so correct. One of the main culprits is Beaf. To name a few. Sad but true.

Getting personal as usual enh?
I wonder why people like you expect that, rather than consolidating a hard won battle; we should still carry on blindly. Dude, the battle is 90% won, so why continue with the same old tactics? Not clever. How do you win a fight and carry on fighting? Thats some funny shyte from a funny mind!

Its ok to watch others gripe in jealousy though and wish things would go back to the way they were, but the country has moved on. Obviously, some of your type been left behind.

Its a new World dude, embrace it.

Beaf,

I just tell it like it is. I have no ill feelings toward you. Just simply stating your hypocrisy. You blow wherever the wind blows. You show no consistency. And you are not a principled man. First, you were a firm support of Henry Okah, but now it would seem that he has fallen out of grace with your savior, Goodluck Jonathan, you are singing another tune. It is sad to see someone who doesn't stick to principle. Where is your dignity as a man?

EzeUche0:

Beaf,

I just tell it like it is. I have no ill feelings toward you. Just simply stating your hypocrisy. You blow wherever the wind blows. You show know consistency. And you are not a principled man. First, you were a firm support of Henry Okah, but now it would seem that he has fallen out of grace with your savior, Goodluck Jonathan, you are singing another tune. It is sad to see someone who doesn't stick to principle. Where is your dignity as a man?

I know you are in love with Chima Orlu, the Abuja bomber, hence your strange predicament.

According to your theory, the allies should still be in their World War II trenches fighting Nazi Germany after their victory in 1945; or the US should still be carpet bombing Iraq.

Fools never change.

@beaf.ezeuche is correct.Anybody that says things the way they are becomes IBB's supporter.I am still waiting for you to claim that IBB kidnapped the 5 men(joke).

Seriously Fg needs to do what the ND is calling for.True federalism and resource control,release Henry Okah unconditionally and end all these set ups.It is not a difficult task.

Abagworo:

@beaf.ezeuche is correct.Anybody that says things the way they are becomes IBB's supporter.I am still waiting for you to claim that IBB kidnapped the 5 men(joke).

Seriously Fg needs to do what the ND is calling for.True federalism and resource control,release Henry Okah unconditionally and end all these set ups.It is not a difficult task.

That is a lie! Ezeuche is a shameless tribalist who is in love with Chima Orlu.
Aside from true federalism, the rest of your post is the usual tosh and you aught to be deeply ashamed.

Ok. Assuming you aren't an IBB whatever, why the interest in my person from some of you? Am I like Jesus to you?

The mad dogs are on the loose again ! Btw,what does the amnesty says about any kidnapper caught in the post-amnesty period ? Some people are aiding injustice I must say !

Beaf:

That is a lie! Ezeuche is a shameless tribalist who is in love with Chima Orlu.
Aside from true federalism, the rest of your post is the usual tosh and you aught to be deeply ashamed.

Ok. assuming you aren't an IBB whatever, why the interest in my person from some of you? Am I like Jesus to you?

You continue to sully my good name. Each time you mention my name is an insult on myself as a person and my identity. You have to make everything personal with those who do not subscribe to your narrow views. I agree with you on some issues, but you act like a spoiled brat who always have to get his way. Grow up!

Simply stated that Chima Orlu may be a fake name. This is the first time, most of us is hearing this name. And it is might funny, that it is a Igbo name. Sorry, but things do not add up.

Abagworo:

@beaf.ezeuche is correct.Anybody that says things the way they are becomes IBB's supporter.I am still waiting for you to claim that IBB kidnapped the 5 men(joke).

Seriously Fg needs to do what the ND is calling for.True federalism and resource control,release Henry Okah unconditionally and end all these set ups.It is not a difficult task.

if its not ibb, its the northern cabal . all of a sudden these fearless incorruptible freedom fighters have become lackeys of those gworo chewing eejit abokis . amazing

but you act like a spoiled brat who always have to get his way. Grow up!

gbam gbam gbam

someone break out the pacifier so we can have rational discourse

We don't have obolo local govt in akwa ibom state nor nigeria.

We all need to join hands to stop all these violence going on in our country.The amnesty must not be partial.I was particularly pissed by the hosting of militants in Abuja and denial by Fg of Okah as the real MEND leader while events clearly suggested otherwise.If Tompolo is actually their leader,why not arrest him for the crimes being perpetuated by MEND.As I said selective justice will lead us  nowhere.Soyinka needs to come up with the true situation before the death of Yar'Adua and why the present government stopped the negotiations.

Abagworo:

We all need to join hands to stop all these violence going on in our country.The amnesty must not be partial.I was particularly pissed by the hosting of militants in Abuja and denial by Fg of Okah as the real MEND leader while events clearly suggested otherwise.If Tompolo is actually their leader,why not arrest him for the crimes being perpetuated by MEND.As I said selective justice will lead us  nowhere.Soyinka needs to come up with the true situation before the death of Yar'Adua and why the present government stopped the negotiations.

i have been wondering why these 'former' mend commanders are unable to find their way into the creeks to fish out the likes of rambo and truncate the 'new and improved mend'

Abagworo:

We all need to join hands to stop all these violence going on in our country.The amnesty must not be partial.I was particularly pissed by the hosting of militants in Abuja and denial by Fg of Okah as the real MEND leader while events clearly suggested otherwise.If Tompolo is actually their leader,why not arrest him for the crimes being perpetuated by MEND.As I said selective justice will lead us nowhere.Soyinka needs to come up with the true situation before the death of Yar'Adua and why the present government stopped the negotiations.

There is no indication of who kidnapped the men yet, so lets not jump to conclusions and start proferring solutions to problems that are yet to be defined (in other words, don't spread rumours; it lowers your cred).

EzeUche0:

You continue to sully my good name. Each time you mention my name is an insult on myself as a person and my identity. You have to make everything personal with those who do not subscribe to your narrow views. I agree with you on some issues, but you act like a spoiled brat who always have to get his way. Grow up!

Simply stated that Chima Orlu may be a fake name. This is the first time, most of us is hearing this name. And it is might funny, that it is a Igbo name. Sorry, but things do not add up.

Dude, you seem to have the attention span of a fish. Who mentioned my name on this thread? Err, it was'nt you, was it?
Anyways, your tribalistic love for Chima Orlu and the slap down that resulted, is why you took the pathetically cowardly action to drop my name here in the hope of a lynching by your fellow pathetic losers.
Yeah, only losers carry grouses from thread to thread.

Fcking cement head. Is Chima Orlu your daddy?

@ Beaf,

I c no wrong in anybody supporting his candidate of choice. I only c wrong in throwing good judgement out of d windows in trying to justify wrong actions at all cost.

U r wrong to maintain ur posture of anything goes as long as its GEJ. He Ws definitely wrong on his utterances over d bomb blast issue and u treated everybody dt condemned his actions as enemy combatant. Would his position at dt time still hold in light of recent activities by some criminals posing as militants in ND? Dts where he failed. Today events show dt he made serious errors in his judgement of d incident. By his position he's accessible to most privileged info, bt dt didn't materialize to good judgement at d critical time for him. He becomes culpable for weakness of d inteligience apparatus. Crime is crime, irrespective of who n where it Ws commited. Foul is foul, irrespective of who is culpable.

Nobody is infallible. Rather, admitting errors appropriately is mark of strong character wc I think shld make sense to ur very self and GEJ.

I only hope he doesn't come out again to absolve a favoured group prejudicially on this.

Truth should b told at all time.

lol

homerac7:

@ Beaf,

I c no wrong in anybody supporting his candidate of choice. I only c wrong in throwing good judgement out of d windows in trying to justify wrong actions at all cost.

U r wrong to maintain your posture of anything goes as long as its GEJ. He Ws definitely wrong on his utterances over d bomb blast issue and u treated everybody dt condemned his actions as enemy combatant. Would his position at dt time still hold in light of recent activities by some criminals posing as militants in ND? Dts where he failed. Today events show dt he made serious errors in his judgement of d incident. By his position he's accessible to most privileged info, bt dt didn't materialize to good judgement at d critical time for him. He becomes culpable for weakness of d inteligience apparatus. Crime is crime, irrespective of who n where it Ws commited. Foul is foul, irrespective of who is culpable.

Nobody is infallible. Rather, admitting errors appropriately is mark of strong character wc I think shld make sense to your very self and GEJ.

I only hope he doesn't come out again to absolve a favoured group prejudicially on this.

Truth should b told at all time.

I honestly can't make any sense of what you are talking about. Your post is packed with assumptions.
My position on the Abuja blasts, is very simple and will remain that; we as ordinary citizens do not possess any inside knowledge of what happened, so its a bit of a stretch pointing fingers in any direction to argue with officially released info; in fact, it is plain dishonest and dangerous. It amounts to propagandising the deaths of 16 innocent people.

@ Beaf,

Yeah, we may not hav inside knowledge of what happened bt d official statement shouldn't b ridiculous either. Whatever inside knowledge they had prior to d event is evidently poorly managed by his weak argument.

Beaf:

Dude, you seem to have the attention span of a fish. Who mentioned my name on this thread? Err, it was'nt you, was it?
Anyways, your tribalistic love for Chima Orlu and the slap down that resulted, is why you took the pathetically cowardly action to drop my name here in the hope of a lynching by your fellow pathetic losers.
Yeah, only losers carry grouses from thread to thread.

Fcking cement head. Is Chima Orlu your daddy?

Again with the insults? Can you make a point without resorting to insults? Or are you just too childish, you have to do this in order to get your point across? All I can say is that it is pathetic. Like I have said before, I have no problem with you. I just called you out on your hypocrisy. Now get over it. I am not the only person who said this, and I wont be the last.

EzeUche0:

Again with the insults? Can you make a point without resorting to insults, or are you just too childish, you have to do this in order to get your point across. All I can say is that it is pathetic. Like I have said, I have no problem with you. I just called out your hypocrisy. Now get over it. I am not the only person who said this, and I wont be the last.

Don't you think dragging my name into this thread is worth insults? You'd be a fool not to.

Of course, you won't be the only one in a pathetic cowardly group that feels lynching is the best way to defeat an opponent who is smarter than you.
If you hadn't brought my name into this topic, I wouldn't even have commented on it, because it is neither here nor there.
Respect yourself and others will respect you; but it seems you do not even have the ability for self respect.

While we're at it, say hello to Chima Orlu. He is wanted for bombing our 50th anniversary celebrations and Henry Okah (your new pal) has sworn an affidavit to the effect that he is real and lives in SA under the name, Malcolm Umejessi. Die.
Your stup!d tribalistic affiliation to a murderer is what is causing your current pain and the reason you brought up my name here, thinking I would be lynched like the coward that you are. Respect yourself.

Beaf,

You know that this thread was directed at you. . .

Oyb- "not so long ago, any news of attacks by mend would b greeted by "up mend!", mostly by the people who have now turned blind supporters of gej

its interesting watching them fall over themselves condemning henry okah, who so many of them lionized"

Funny how you was once a passionate supporter of Henry Okah, but now you are not. He criticized your savior GEJ and now he has been cast off like trash. You were once a PROUD supporter of MEND as well. Do not deny it, because everyone on the Politics section of NL will call you a liar.

Chima Orlu is not a real person. Don't you understand that. How come this is the first time we are hearing anything about this man? We did not hear anything about him before. Instead of chasing phantoms, they should be chasing the people who are actually wining and dining with GEJ. This is getting easy Beaf. You are easy to refute. It doesn't even take me much effort.

homerac7:

@ Beaf,

Yeah, we may not hav inside knowledge of what happened bt d official statement shouldn't b ridiculous either. Whatever inside knowledge they had prior to d event is evidently poorly managed by his weak argument.

The bolded says it all. If we do not have knowledge, we should avoid making conclusive comments. A very good example is when the SSS released the names of the bombers, Ben Jessy and Chima Orlu; quite a few NLers who should have known better made loud and corrosive arguments about how the govt was feeding us made up names. Fastforward to last weekend in SA were Henry Okah submitted a sworn affidat to the court saying he knew Chima Orlu as a onetime friend, who had in fact lived under his roof; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=546755.msg7097747.

What would the all knowing NLers of a few weeks ago say now? Fake name or their uninformed conclusions? You tell tell me.

I give up arguing with a buffoon. It is like talking to a brick wall. Even bk.babe makes more sense than you at times. And that is not saying much either.

EzeUche0:

Beaf,

You know that this thread was directed at you. . .

Oyb- "not so long ago, any news of attacks by mend would b greeted by "up mend!", mostly by the people who have now turned blind supporters of gej

its interesting watching them fall over themselves condemning henry okah, who so many of them lionized"

Funny how you was once a passionate supporter of Henry Okah, but now you are not. He criticized your savior GEJ and now he has been cast off like trash. You were once a PROUD supporter of MEND as well. Do not deny it, because everyone on the Politics section of NL will call you a liar.

Chima Orlu is not a real person. Don't you understand that. How come this is the first time we are hearing anything about this man? We did not hear anything about him before. Instead of chasing phantoms, they should be chasing the people who are actually wining and dining with GEJ. This is getting easy Beaf. You are easy to refute. It doesn't even take me much effort.

. . .Donkey like arguments.

As to the bolded, your daddy, Chima Orlu was never a member of MEND, was he? Please don't make arguments in areas that are beyond your meagre logical gifts.
As usual, you aren't making any sense, but then, thats always been your hallmark.

Bloody worshipper of Chima Orlu, the murderer.

The criminals who attacked have put some people into pain and put some people out of jobs.

Afren is one of the few companies that encourage Locals and indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry.

Freedom fighters have set the stage for a new level of criminality in Nigeria. Where's Ateke Tom, Asari to see the rewards of their violent campaign. It will probably never stop

boladez:

The criminals who attacked have put some people into pain and put some people out of jobs.

Afren is one of the few companies that  encourage Locals and indigenous participation in the oil and gas industry.

Freedom fighters criminals have set the stage for a new level of criminality in Nigeria. Where's Ateke Tom, Asari to see the rewards of their violent campaign. It will probably never stop

until we learn to stop calling criminality militancy and criminals freedom fighters, this monster will continue to grow bigger and bigger.
Where did you ever see freedom fighters become millionaires in the course of the fight? only in ND.
Have you ever understood the ideology behind their struggle?
It is all about the Benjamins.