DO YOU NO YOU CAN STUDY FIRE, SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE MANAGEMENT FROM INDIAN BEST INTELLIGENCE INSTITUTE ONLINE?ALL AT VERY REDUCED COST.FOR FREE FORM, MAIL sylvapower2000@gmail.com
The Defence Headquarters on Tuesday vowed that some suspected
Pro-Biafran militants, who hijacked a merchant vessel off the coast of
Nigeria on Friday would be treated as criminals and saboteurs.
The
ship, believed to be an oil tanker, was said to have been hijacked by
some militants, who issued a 31-day ultimatum to the Federal Government
to release the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mr.
Nnamdi Kanu.
While some maritime industry sources claimed that
the vessel was an oil tanker seized about 160 kilometres off the Bakassi
Peninsula near the border with Cameroon, the Defence Headquarters told
the The PUNCH on Tuesday that the ship was seized about 7.5 nautical
miles off the Port of Cotonou.
The suspected pro-Biafran
militants had hijacked the foreign merchant ship and threatened to blow
it up with its crew if the Federal Government failed to release Kanu.
It was learnt that the 31-day ultimatum by the militants was given at the weekend by one ‘General Ben.’
Kanu
is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services for running an
illegal organisation (IPOB), threatening to break away from Nigeria to
create an independent country; importing radio transmitters and making
inciting and seditious statements, while his co-accused persons had been
charged with possession of firearms.
Defence sources, who
claimed knowledge of the hijacking on Tuesday, explained that the
operatives of the Nigerian Navy were on the trail of the captured vessel
and the hijackers.
One of the sources, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said the hijackers had threatened to blow up the ship and
its crew members if the government refused to release Kanu, who is
currently being detained and undergoing prosecution for treasonable
felony, after 31 days.
The Director of Defence Information, Brig.
Gen. Rabe Abubakar, confirmed on Tuesday that some militants hijacked a
vessel on Friday off the Nigerian coast, but threatened that the
military would deal decisively with those he called criminals and
saboteurs.
He said the vessel, named MT LEON DIAS, was hijacked
outside Nigeria’s territorial waters about 7.5 nautical miles off the
Port of Cotonou, adding that the vessel was under the watch of the Navy
of Benin Republic.
Abubakar added, “Well, I can confirm to you
that a vessel, a tanker with the name MT LEON DIAS with number 9279927,
was hijacked 7.5 nautical miles off Cotonou port. The ship is presently
in Benin Republic. It is a merchant ship.
“I must add that on
this issue of militancy, there are no more militants now, what we have
are criminals. The Amnesty programme has taken care of the militants.
“The
military will treat those behind such acts as criminal and saboteurs;
the law will take its course; the security agencies will do their job.
“The
country’s interest is above any other person’s interest. We have to
work towards the enthronement of peace and stability because development
can only take place in an atmosphere of peace.”
He said the military would treat those behind such crimes in the nation’s maritime domain as criminals and saboteurs.
Abubakar
admitted that there “were some sort of threats,” but he was not
specific on the 31-day ultimatum issued by the hijackers.
A
Bulgarian-based Maritime News had said, “The group boarded the tanker
from two fast boats and took control of the vessel and locked the crew
in the mess room before heading for the Niger Delta,” reports AP.
A
factional leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of a Sovereign
State of Biafra, Uchenna Madu, had also explained that the said ‘General
Ben’ was one of the Niger Delta militants, who had volunteered to join
forces with the secessionists groups.
“Ben is not a separatist but some Niger Delta militants have shown interest in working with us,” said Madu.
No comments:
Post a Comment