Hostages may still be alive –Minister

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

The Minister of Interior, Mr. Abba Moro, has said that the reported killing of seven kidnapped  foreign construction workers by a militant Islamic group, Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan, remains unconfirmed.

“As long as it (killing) remains unconfirmed, efforts will be made to ensure their rescue and security,”  Moro told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.

“I want us to also think that belief is quite different from confirmation. And maybe the affected countries believe that was what happened, but on its part, the country where it is said to have happened, based on what it sees, is doing the best it can in ensuring the men are freed, who it hopes are alive.”

But  his  belief  and comments by his Information counterpart , Labaran Maku,  as well as   security agencies  showed that there was confusion  in  government circle over the fate of the kidnapped foreigners.

Shortly before the Interior Minister spoke, JAMBS,  in order to prove its claim, posted  a video of what it said was the bodies of the foreigners ( a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese) on the Internet.

The video released by the al Qaeda-linked group  and dated March 9 shows a gunman standing next to a pile of bodies, then close-ups of their faces lit up by a torch.

It carries the Arabic title, “The killing of the seven Christian hostages in Nigeria” although the religion of the deceased  was not clear.

A caption underneath  the video says in Arabic and in English: “In the name of Allah Most Beneficent Most Merciful.”

JAMBS  had  also  said it killed the hostages in response to attempts by Britain and Nigeria to free them although   Italy and Greece said there had been no  such attempt this time around.

Contradicting  JAMBS claim, a senior  presidential aide  told the Guardian of London that no rescue raid was under way or in the pipeline with any other governments.

“The (Nigerian) government had zero indication of where the hostages were being held. We would have mounted a raid if we had known,” the aide told the Guardian of London.

He added that the speed at which events had unfolded over the last few days “caught (the government) on the back foot.”

Two security sources told the Guardian the hostages might have been killed when their captors panicked, mistakenly believing British intelligence operatives based in Nigeria had located them.

A secret service official said  that three of the hostages were believed to have been seriously ill during their captivity.

However, as the  United Kingdom, Italy and Greece confirmed the killings on Sunday, the Federal Government made no immediate comment.

Efforts to get the Presidency’s reaction  yielded  no  positive result  as the telephone lines of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati,  was switched off.

It was learnt on Monday that Abati was out of the country.

Also, the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, did not pick his call when one of our correspondents tried to reach  him on Sunday.

The spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Ogbole Ahmedu-Ode, had  said he had  not been briefed  and therefore could not make any  comment on the reported killings.

 The Information  minister declined to make comments on the fate of the seven hostages when confronted by journalists in Abuja on Monday.

I don’t have the full brief to brief you,” Maku  said  as he walked out of the Presidential Villa, Abuja where he had earlier attended a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan.

When he was further asked to comment on the listing of Nigeria as a terrorist state by France over the incident, the minister kept mum.

When one of our correspondents contacted the Director of Defence Information, Col. Mohammed Yerima, on Monday , he asked, “How can we confirm? There is nothing to confirm. We don’t have comment. We are saying we do not have comment.”

Also, the Bauchi State Police Command said it had no clue on the condition of the seven foreigners said to be  Setraco workers.

The command said it had yet to establish the alleged murder of the foreigners  who were abducted from their camp in Jama’are, Bauchi State on February 17, 2013 by JAMBS members.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Hassan  Mohammed, told one of  our correspondents  on Monday that the command had no evidence that the hostages had been killed.

“We don’t have any information on the hostages’ death; honestly I can’t tell you anything about it because I don’t know, we are still investigating the claims by the sect.  But for now, we don’t know the situation of things,” he said.

It was gathered that security agencies were still combing Bauchi and the neighbouring states for the  abducted Setraco workers.

JAMBS  killed a British and an Italian hostage in North-West Nigeria during a failed rescue mission by British and Nigerian forces a year ago.

A German kidnapped by an Islamist group in January 2012 was also killed later in the year during a raid on his location.

A French national is being also held by the group, while another family of seven kidnapped in northern Cameroon are being held by a group claiming to be Boko Haram.

Security officials say  JAMBS  split from Boko Haram in January 2012, after the latter launched a devastating attack on the city of Kano that killed 186 people, mostly Muslims.