MEND RELEASES PICTURE OF BRITISH HOSTAGE

To reassure the families of the two British hostages identified as Robin Barry Hughes and Matthew John Maguire that they are alive and well, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) hereby releases their recent pictures.
 
Robin has asked us to convey a message to his four lovely children; Adrian, Nicola, Amanda and Eunice Melo Hughes and I quote: " Daddy loves and misses you all terribly. My plight is caused by the insincere Nigerian government, greedy oil companies and the dumb Prime Minister of Great Britain, Mr Gordon Brown. I remember you all in my prayers and please pray for us".
 
Mathew sends his love to Mathew, Charlie and Ellie Dean.
 

We intend to hold on to them for as long as a very sick and dying Henry Okah is held hostage by the Nigerian state since their fate is now tied to his. God forbid that Henry Okah should die in detention.........

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The two men have long been separated.
 
Our policy on kidnapping high value oil workers from Western Europe and North America remains unchanged and will continue to form an integral part of our pressure strategy in the emancipation struggle in 2009.
 
The oil workers union have an important role to play in ending the crisis by using their one effective weapon to press for change. They never hesitate to use it for their own benefit and it has worked within days for them and can work for the entire region without the shedding of blood and destruction of oil infrastructure.
 
If oil workers can embark on an indefinite strike in Nigeria and shut in 100% of oil and gas exports, we are confident that the government of Nigeria and the international community will be forced to take actions to resolve the Niger Delta crisis permanently.
 
MEND is against the kidnapping of children, the elderly and people not related to the oil industry. This is the handiwork of petty criminals and even close relatives and associates of the victims.
 
In some cases, the victims have been found out to have faked their own abduction! It is also part of a Nigerian government covert operation to kidnap children and the elderly to give the arms struggle a bad name and cause public resentment towards freedom fighters.
 
Kidnapping for ransom is happening in every part of the world and is not restricted to the Niger Delta, while some parts of Nigeria are known to kidnap for ritual killings and cannibalism. 
 
The refusal to renew an entry visa to a member of the Okah family and his employee by the US embassy in Lagos based on his relationship with Henry Okah as carried in the Saturday Punch newspaper of January 10, 2009 is senseless and unfortunate.

 
This incident confirms that the American government is biased and has been playing a dubious behind the scene role in prolonging the Niger Delta crisis and Okah's incaceration.

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It is hypocritical of the US ambassador to talk of assisting in youth empowerment and development on one hand and on the other hand sabotaging a job creator in the Niger Delta over such an excuse. 
 
We wonder if the McVeigh family has been ostracized by the US government for the actions of Timothy, the Oklahoma bomber or if the Nigerian High Commission in the US has directives to blacklist families of known American terrorists from visiting Nigeria.
 
Because of the financial crisis in the US, the consular department has become a fraudulent unit (419) in other to meet the day to day running of the embassy. By not informing in advance those it knows will not qualify for visa renewal until after receiving a non refundable fee from them, the US embassy in Nigeria is commiting a thriving con.
 
It is prejudicial for a US embassy consular officer to label Henry Okah a 'terrorist' when no court of law has proven him to be one. By the way, is a terrorist now defined by Americans as anyone from an oil bearing region agitating for a greener environment, an avid lover of guns and a seeker of justice? If yes, then Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska also fits the definition .
 
In the eyes of the oil bearing communities and the people of the Niger Delta, Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa, Nelson Mandela and Henry Okah are regarded as heroes past and present.
 
The real terrorists would be the American government that has turned a blind eye to an obvious crime of environmental degradation, injustice, systematic extra-judicial murder, systematic alchohol addiction, systematic side-lining for jobs in the oil industry, genocide, rape of women and theft of a peoples resources for the development of others perpetuated since 1958 by the oil companies and their local and foreign collaborators.
 
Jomo Gbomo