23rd December 2009
The Hostage Business
“John had been working in the delta for 14 years when the kidnappings started. He saw the reports in early 2006 of expatriates being taken from offshore oil rigs by a group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND. MEND pledged to cripple the Nigerian economy, and kidnapping foreign oil workers was one pillar of its strategy. Still, John didn’t think too much of it. He had been through years of military dictatorship and grown accustomed to the threat of armed robberies and the occasional sight of a body lying in the street. He went out to bars and restaurants and, as was his routine, to Goodfellas on Sunday nights. Until Aug. 13, 2006, MEND had never tried anything so brazen as abducting foreigners from the middle of the city. But everything John thought he knew about Nigeria was about to change. Port Harcourt was the center of a new industry: kidnapping for ransom.
