BENIN, Nigeria Aug 21 (Reuters) - Nigerian police said on Tuesday they killed four kidnappers in southern Edo state following a car chase where the hostage escaped, in the latest abduction in a region home to Africa's biggest oil industry.
Criminal gangs kidnapping for ransom have blighted Africa's second largest economy for years, with the vast majority of people abducted Nigerians, although foreign oil workers have also been targets.
Violence and crime in the oil-producing Niger Delta pushes up the cost of doing business. Shell spent almost 40 percent of its global security budget in Nigeria between 2007-2009, according to an oil industry watchdog.
Senior civil servant Benson Ojoto was kidnapped earlier this month in Delta, one of the three states that make up the bulk of the Niger Delta. He was freed on Sunday, police said.
"Luckily, the man escaped while the gang headed to Edo with his car. We trailed them to Benin city where we engaged and gunned down four of them. One escaped with gunshot wounds," Delta state police spokesman Charles Muka said.
Muka said they strongly suspected the gang was behind the kidnapping this month of Delta State Judge Marcel Okoh, who has since been released.
Although the majority of kidnappings in Nigeria are for financial gain, this year there have been a handful of abductions of foreigners by Islamists in the largely-Muslim north, far from the oil region.
A Briton and an Italian were killed during a raid in northeast Sokoto in March and a German died during another rescue attempt in Nigeria's second-largest city Kano in May. (Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Benue to recover money over Okupe’s contract, others
ACN, PDP continue war of words
CORRUPTION, real and alleged, remains the most topical issue in Nigeria.
The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) brought this to the fore again yesterday as they traded verbal darts over the former’s call for the resignation of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, over alleged corruption.
The altercation between the parties may have indeed forced the Benue State government to start looking into its present and past transactions with various contractors with a view to recovering monies from those who collected mobilisation fees but allegedly failed to deliver.
Although the Gabriel Suswam administration claims it is not ready to probe its predecessor, it is however prepared to recover monies allegedly collected by various contractors, who did not perform, to augment its financial fortunes.
On the heels of the controversy over Okupe, Benue Government House sources told The Guardian that one of such companies, Messrs Value Trust Investments Ltd, reportedly owned by Okupe, was awarded a contract on April 24, 2004 to construct 230 kilometres of rural roads in the state at the cost of N2.3 billion, using loamy soil stabilisation.
The sources claimed that 30 per cent mobilisation fee was paid to the company to execute the contract in 18 months but it failed to do so.
The Benue officials added that after collecting the sum N886.8 million on July 17, 2006, the firm abandoned the projects.
According to them, the state government pressured the firm to complete the projects but it failed until the contract duration elapsed, adding that the company is still indebted to the state government to the tune of N635.7 million after about N55.2 million was recovered from it.
The Guardian also discovered that among the 230 kilometres of rural road contract were the University of Agriculture-Gbajimba, Sankera-Ayati-Sai and Aliede-Obariketo roads.
Yesterday, lawyers to Okupe confirmed that the Benue State government actually “awarded a rural road contract to Messrs Value Trust Investments Ltd, one of the companies in which Okupe served as chairman.”
State police will destroy the unity of Nigeria- Former IGP
Former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Gambo Jimeta has criticised the call for the establishment of state police, saying it will destroy the unity of the country and retard the growth of the nation.
Mr. Jimeta who spoke to journalists in Abuja, added that the call is part of a grand plan by some Nigerians to destroy the Nigeria Police Force.
He, however supported the call for the scrapping of the Ministry of Police Affairs, saying the ministry has been a cog in the wheel of progress of the Nigeria Police Force.
‘Facts of Life’ star Lisa Whelchel returns to TV as a ‘Survivor: Philippines’ castaway
Lisa Whelchel, best known for her role as Blair Warner on the '80s television show "The Facts of Life," headlines the cast of "Survivor: Philippines," which premieres Wednesday, September 19 on CBS. The former teen actress will join 17 other castaways, including retired MLB player Jeff Kent and three returning players (to be revealed Wednesday), to compete for $1 million and the title of Sole Survivor.
"I'm a huge, huge fan and have been from Season 1. I haven't missed an episode. I love the game and was born to play it," Whelchel shared with Yahoo! TV while on location during filming. "I never wanted to do reality TV, but this doesn't feel like reality TV. This feels like having an adventure that I've always wanted to have. Even if this weren't filmed, I would want to do it. It just happened that it's filmed and put on television and I use to be on television."
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