By SaharaReporters, New York
The youth leaders led by former Secretary-General of IYC, Mr. Udengs Eradiri spoke to newsmen Thursday in Yenagoa, in the company of the five Pakistanis, said that the captives were freed in the early hours of Wednesday after twelve days in captivity.
Eradiri, who claimed to have led some members of the IYC to facilitate the release of the expatriates, however, said that no ransom was paid to the kidnappers to secure freedom for the Pakistanis.
The Security officials in Bayelsa have maintained ignorance of the incident and have distanced themselves from it, a development the youths may have capitalized on to make claims that they secured the release of the oil workers.
The Joint Task Force spokesperson had said that the task force did not get a report about the incident and claimed that the crime was committed outside its jurisdiction and shifted the responsibility to the navy.
The five Pakistanis, Rashid Igbal, Wajid Muhammad, Waqas Admed, Mushtag Admed and Mujtaba Ghlum Muhammad, all working for Matrix Energy, an oil marketing and trading company.
Mujtaba Ghlum Muhammad, the leader of the crew, while narrating their ordeal said they were whisked away by gunmen numbering about five in a speed boat along the Akassa river in Bayelsa. "They came in one speed boat, disposed us of our cash and valuables under gunpoint and asked us to enter their boat, before forcefully taking us away.’’``We spent twelve days in the bush," he said. Muhammad told reporters that the pirates had complained of the government's insensitivity to their plight as jobless youths, adding that bad leadership had left them with hopelessness.
"These people are complaining about government. I heard them talk calling their boss 'General', they say they are doing this business because the government was not caring" .
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