New Zealand rules out paying ransom for the release of its citizen kidnapped in Cross River

NEW Zealand's prime minister John Key has ruled out paying a ransom for the release of his country's citizen Jamal Khan who was abducted by armed gunmen alongside three Australian and one South African in Cross River State.

 

On Wednesday, five expatriates and two Nigerians have been kidnapped by armed hoodlums in the Idundu area of the Calabar-Oban Road in Cross River State while on their way to work for the MacMahon Construction Company. According to eyewitnesses, the workers, who were conveyed in four MacMahon vehicles, had been escorted by a security pickup that had four armed policemen when they were attacked by the gunmen before the Idundu Bridge.

 

It is expected that the kidnappers, suspected to be Niger Delta militants, will now be demanding a huge ransom for the release of the hostages.  Mr Key has, however, made it clear that there was no chance of the government paying a ransom, pointing out that doing so would only put a bounty on the head of any New Zealander working in a volatile region and make the situation worse.

 

He added that the kidnapping was likely randomly motivated rather than an act of a terrorist organisation. According to Mr Key, the kidnappers are yet to contact police or make any request to either the Nigerian or New Zealand authorities.

 

Also speaking on the abduction, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, said the Australian High Commissioner in Nigeria was at the scene. New Zealand, unfortunately has no diplomatic mission in the country limiting its capacity to coordinate the rescue.

 

Mr Turnbull said the Australian mining company MacMahon, has been working with the Nigerian government to resolve the situation, just as New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs was receiving updates on the situation. He added that the identity of the kidnappers who abducted his countrymen was still unknown.

 

“We don’t know at this stage the identity of the kidnappers and families in Australia are notified, of course. It is a very serious kidnapping, a very serious criminal assault,” Mr Turnbull said.

 

South Africa's Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said it had not been informed officially of any South African kidnapped but was aware of reports of an attack on an international company’s employees in Nigeria. However, Cross River State security adviser, Jude Ngaji, said yesterday that some arrests had been made in relation to the kidnapping of the contract staff of Lafarge on Wednesday.