Maritime Workers Give 30-Day Ultimatum To Free Nine Kidnapped Members

The leadership of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has issued a one-month ultimatum to the Federal Government and security agencies to ensure unconditional release of nine of its members kidnapped from Kula Creek in Abonnema area of the state over the weekend on their way to attend a congress meeting in Port Harcourt.
The union further called on the state government and the various security agencies responsible for the safety and security of all the waterways in the state to rise to their challenges and ensure that sea piracy and kidnapping ravaging the coastal areas is brought under control.
The Deputy President General of the union, Comrade Francis Bumu, gave the ultimatum while briefing journalists at the union office in Port Harcourt, last Monday, saying that the rising cases of kidnapping of maritime workers in the coastal communities was responsible for the high cost of doing business in all ports in the state.
He added that if no concerted effort was made in this regard to secure the timely and unconditional release of their kidnapped members, the union would have no option than to withdraw all their services in the state.
He appealed to the Rivers State Government and the Federal Government to assist in providing gunboats each for the coastal communities in the state, saying that such measure, if put in place, would help in fighting the menace of kidnapping and sea piracy in those areas.
“The abductors of our members should release them unconditionally, because the kind of money they are calling for, we do not have. The government should help us to get these people out of their captors. Security agencies, the marine police and Navy should intensify efforts to secure their release”, he stated.