SSS coordinates payment of
ransom to kidnappers


By Peter Nkanga
March 9, 2011 04:24AM

The Nigerian government, through its secret
police, fuelled kidnapping in the restive
Niger Delta region by paying millions of
naira in ransom to kidnappers, a leaked US
diplomatic cable, made available to NEXT,
has revealed.

The cable, dated February 6, 2007, and
which punctured the claims by the
government, and the Nigerian security
agencies, that ransoms were never paid to
kidnappers, detailed how the government
funnelled N20 million through an official of
the State Security Service (SSS) to militants to
free two foreign hostages.

Billy Graham, an American citizen, and Neil
Mirrlees, a British national, were seized on
January 23, 2007, in Port Harcourt, Rivers
State, when two vehicles crashed into Mr.
Graham ’s Peugeot Sedan car, one from the
front and the other from the rear, as both
foreigners were on their way to work. Both
men at the time worked for Pivot GIS Ltd
(PGIS), an oil and gas servicing company
located in Port Harcourt.

As the men were held captive and
reportedly tortured, their employers, the
federal government, the Delta and Rivers
State government, and the American
embassy made frantic efforts to secure
their release.


Money for freedom

The US cable stated how in the second week
of their captivity, Mr. Graham communicated
with the then general manager of PGIS (we
are withholding his name so as not to
endanger him), appealing that the
negotiation with the kidnappers “should
conclude as soon as possible because
British national Neil Mirrlees ’s condition is
very weak”. There were also efforts to get
Oral Rehydration Therapy across to him to
improve his condition.

Then on February 5, the document said, a
top official of the SSS (we are withholding
his name because of the nature of his job)
in Rivers State, who coordinated the
ransom-paying process, reportedly got in
touch with John Walker of Control Risks
Group, a British private security company
which renders kidnap and evacuation
consultation services, to say that Governor
James Ibori had decided to conclude the
hostage negotiations, despite federal policy
prohibiting ransom payments.

Mr. Walker quoted the SSS official as saying
that “he would arrange for the hostages’
release once he had the full naira 20 million
ransom (approximately USD 156,000) in
hand ”. The decision, he said, was made in
the light of Mirrlees’s condition. Days later,
the kidnappers released Mr. Mirrlees whose
condition had become critical but kept Mr.
Graham hostage pending the ransom
payment.

It took almost two weeks before Mr. Graham
was finally released. By this time the
government had discreetly paid the N20
million to the kidnappers, who had initially
demanded 1.8 billion naira ransom (about
$14million). The government told the world
that no payment was made.

In the cable, the SSS chief said that “Ransom
payment was contingent on the condition
that it never be publicly mentioned ”. He
then warned the PGIS general manager that
he “would be arrested” if the ransom
payment ever became known.

The SSS could not be reached for comments
yesterday. Calls and text messages sent to
the spokesperson of the service, Marilyn
Ogar, went unanswered.

In a telephone call with NEXT, the PGIS boss
admitted that at the time of the kidnap, he
was in constant touch with the SSS. He also
admitted that Mr. Graham while in captivity
had called him to intimate him about Mr.
Mirlees ill health. He however said he did not
know the amount paid as ransom for their
release.

When contacted, Control Risks Group
declined to comment on its role in the
ransom payment saga. “I’m afraid that
we’re not in a position to help on this
occasion as we do not provide comment on
specific instances of kidnapping, ” Georgina
Parkes, the company’s Director of
Communications, said. “In terms of our
areas of focus as a business risk
consultancy, we advise our clients on the
political, security and integrity issues that
they may encounter when doing business
globally. As a matter of course all our
business activities are undertaken in line
with international and jurisdiction specific
regulations and legislation. ”


Creating a hostage-taking industry

By paying ransoms, the government and oil
companies created an industry of hostage
taking, says an April 3, 2006 cable by
Ambassador John Campbell to Washington.

In the dispatch, Mr. Campbell related how
Chevron Nigeria security consultant, Hamish
MacDonald, lamented to him at a March 29,
2006 meeting that a large amount of
money was paid for the release of some
hostages seized in Delta State that month.

At the meeting with the ambassador, Mr.
MacDonald raised concern that his company
was “blind-sided” by the commitments
made to effect the March 26 release of three
hostages held by the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

He said company sources indicated “a very
large amount” of money had changed
hands for this release, far more than in the
release of hostages in January.
“If true”, Mr. Campbell wrote in his dispatch,
“We might be witnessing the birth of an
industry”.

Of course, kidnapping became such a huge
industry afterwards, and the country is still
grappling with the repercussions.

234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5682079-146/story.csp

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