The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has revealed that it collected $200,000 for the release of Mrs. Auguster Douglas-Ayam, the sister to Presidential aide, Oronto Douglas.
MEND has initially asked for over $3 million (N500 million) but bowed to pressure from the family negotiation asking for a downward review.
“The sister of Mr. Oronto Douglas was released unharmed, as we promised. She, however, had developed high blood pressure and malaria while in captivity.
“Contrary to the claim by the Douglas family that no ransom was paid, MEND can authoritatively confirm that the sum of $200,000 was paid as ransom.”
Also, in an emailed statement from the group on Saturday, MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo explained the attack on the Warri Refinery, and included details of the message it intended to pass across to the US government.
“In the early hours of Wednesday, October 23, 2013, an armed auxiliary outfit (referred by the authorities as pirates), attacked a United States flagged oil supply vessel and singled out the two Americans on board.
“This action (kidnap of two Americans) was also to show their disdain and content for an ongoing Joint Naval Exercise with foreign navies in the Delta region. We have informed their abductors that Mr. Henry Okah (one of the leaders of MEND, serving jail term in a South African prison.) would have wanted the men released as soon as possible.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which we earlier infiltrated with the full recruitment of a high-level agent, resulted in the successful sabotage from within (of Warri refinery) on October 22, 2013.
“Throwing a spanner in the works does not require rocket science or commando skills to execute. It only takes a belief in our cause to make things happen.”