Samuel Oyadongha
19 August 2007
Yenagoa — When a gang of gun totting youths filed out to carry out their nefarious trade in the crisis-torn city of Port Harcourt sometime in July, little did they realize it would mark a watershed in their lives and hostage taking in the troubled Niger Delta.
Armed with their deadly instrument of trade, 'AK47 rifles,' the gang of five took to the street waiting patiently like the vulture for their prey ostensibly for ransom from his employers. The youths never had an inkling that this adventure would turn out to be ill-fated mission that would eventually cost their prized possession his untimely death and also put paid to their cherished freedom.
Perhaps, if they had known that this foolhardy mission would turn horrible, they would have stopped in their track and wait for another day.
But this was not to be in a region where life is gradually losing its essence following the total collapse of traditional values as these gunmen who are presently cooling off at the Joint Task Force cell in Warri chose to try their luck like their many other colleagues who have made fortunes out of this deadly business of hostage taking.
Their ambush paid off as an unsuspecting Syrian walked into their trap.
This, Sunday Vanguard however reliably gathered, was not what they had bargained for as they would have preferred an American or Briton whose hostage value is unquestionable given the hullabaloo that is often generated by their abduction from their home governments whenever they are seized in the troubled Delta.
It was learnt learnt that this gang, on snatching their prey, identified as John Hana-Daher, to make money from his employers, Gocogipar Nig. Ltd., a Port Harcourt based oil-servicing firm, did not know how to go about extorting money from the latter in exchange for his release.
Unfortunately, Hana-Daher, who was hypertensive, was kept incommunicado for 31 days somewhere in the mangrove swamp on the outskirts of Port Harcourt where only his kidnappers could reach.
While in captivity, his weak heart could not stand the rigours of August 17, 2007 the mangrove swamp causing his blood pressure to get out of control. His condition was compounded by his lack of access to doctor or drugs.
On realizing his deteriorating condition, Sunday Vanguard gathered that his captors got panicky and transferred him from their den in Rivers State to one of the numerous militant camps in Bayelsa State in the Southern Ijaw Local Government axis on the Atlantic fringe.
But this turned out to a costly mistake for his kidnappers who did not know they were walking into a trap in the unfamiliar Bayelsa territory where the various splinter militant groups had reached accord with the government to cease kidnapping of expatriate oil workers and disruption of operations at oil facilities in line with the on-going reconciliation efforts in region being spearheaded by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.
Unknown to the frightened kidnappers, their counterparts in Bayelsa whom they had relied upon for assistance were now on the side of government to help restore sanity in the creeks.
The gang, on getting to the Bayelsa camp with their ailing victim, was held captive by one Africa, who in turn alerted security operatives who wasted no time in rushing to the creeks not only to effect the members arrest but also to convey the expatriate to hospital for treatment.
Though they succeeded in apprehending his kidnappers, there was little they (security operatives) could do to save the life of Hana-Daher as he gave up the ghost before reaching Yenagoa.
What ordinarily would have been another hand over ceremony of the rescued expatriate to his employers by the Bayelsa State government tragically turned out to be the dumping of his corpse at the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa.
"He was abducted by militants. They demanded a ransom but no ransom was paid and a group of community leaders went to release him. He died before he could be taken to hospital for treatment," Major Omale Ochaguba of the Joint Task Force said last week and added that five of the kidnappers were apprehended.
Also reacting to the incident, Bayelsa State governor, Chief Timipre Sylva, expressed sadness, saying the deceased expatriate was abducted in Rivers State only for his kidnappers to transfer him to a camp in Bayelsa when his condition had worsened.
Sylva who described the incident as unfortunate also confirmed the arrest of five persons involved in the heinous crime.
His words, "It was an unfortunate incident, he was kidnapped in Rivers State and spent 31 days in captivity and nobody knew. The man became ill and his captors became panicky and transferred him to a camp in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State . But on realizing the condition of the man, the coordinator of the camp, Africa , dutifully alerted the state government that some people brought an expatriate to his camp, that he didn't want trouble."
Just as Bayelsans were trying to put behind them the tragic death of the expatriate, the first of its kind in the troubled region, unknown gunmen again struck in the coastal area of Akassa, kidnapping the mother of a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon Amalanyo Yousuo, thereby causing fresh anxiety in the Niger Delta.
At the time of this report, the whereabouts of Mrs. Laura Cuna were still shrouded in mystery.
The kidnap of the 75-year old woman in the early hours of Tuesday coincided with the release of the 11 year-old son of another member of the assembly who after seven days in captivity in the den of his captors was dispatched to his parents packaged in a sack.
However, unlike the kidnappers of the speaker's mother and little Daniel who wasted no time in demanding ransom from their families on whisking away their victims, a family source told Sunday Vanguard that the gunmen who seized Mrs. Cuna were yet to make any demand to her family.
The source expressed concern about the old woman's health, saying it was only late last year that she returned home to Akassa after undergoing treatment over an undisclosed illness in Yenagoa.
According to the source, "left to the lawmaker, the old woman would have remained in Yenagoa with him but she insisted on going back home complaining of boredom in the capital city."
Meanwhile, the state governor has downplayed the latest wave of kidnapping of relations of politicians, describing it as local.
Sylva, who expressed optimism that the act would fizzle out in no distant time, said intelligence reports revealed that close associates of the politicians were perpetrating the act.
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