On August 4, 2008, a band of foolish Somalian pirates kidnapped the entire crew of a Nigerian tugboat off the coast of Somalia. The boat was returning to Nigeria from Singapore. After holding their Nigerian hostages for a total of 302 days, the Somalian pirates finally grew brains and realized how foolish it was for them to have kidnapped Nigerians. The Somalians broke the number one rule of international hostage taking – the life of your hostage must mean something to a particular state – because they believed that anybody in the rulership of Nigeria was even remotely interested in the lives of Nigerian citizens. The pirates can be forgiven. Because they mostly kidnapped Americans and Europeans, they were not used to governments not fretting over the lives of their citizens. They extended that consideration to the Nigerian state and paid heavily for their error of judgment. Their Nigerian captives became an economic burden on them for they must be fed. After 302 days, the Somalians practically begged the Nigerian hostages to leave. They needed the space for hostages from serious countries that would worry about their citizens. Nobody in Abuja had bothered about our kidnapped compatriots. (Excerpt from "The Second Calabash" by Pius Adesanmi)