VZCZCXRO4736
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHOS #0038/01 0221732
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221732Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL LAGOS
TO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA PRIORITY 8230
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8394
INFO RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 0090
RUEHCD/AMCONSUL CIUDAD JUAREZ 0066
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0073
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 0089
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH AFB UK
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOE FOR GPERSON, CGAY 
TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS, SRENENDER, DFIELDS 
COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS 
STATE PASS USTR FOR ASST USTR FLISER 
STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD 
STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART 
STATE PASS TDA FOR NCABOT 
STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER 
STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ 
STATE PASS DS/IP/AF, DS/IP/ITA, DS/ICI/PII 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2017 
TAGS: EPET ENERG ASEC PTER CASC NI
SUBJECT: 6 FILIPINOS KIDNAPPED, AMCITS & BRITS NEXT, 
MILITANTS WARN 
 
LAGOS 00000038  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for reasons 1.4 (B) and ( 
D) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  Six Filipino nationals were taken hostage 
from a vessel near Okerenkoko in Delta State on January 20. 
The following day, militants met in Okerenkoko and agreed to 
target American and British citizens for kidnapping, a 
security source and local newspapers reported.  Governor 
James Ibori of Delta State told us he had passed intelligence 
to the military Joint Task Force that the Federated Niger 
Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) was planning to attack a barge 
or vessel but the military failed to restrict vessels from 
operating in the area during the appointed time.  Bayelsa 
Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Godknows Igali, 
 
SIPDIS 
confirmed that FNDIC and its leader Tom Polo were responsible 
for the kidnapping.  End Summary. 
 
6 FILIPINOS KIDNAPPED, AMCITS & BRITS NEXT 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (C) Six Filipinos were taken hostage from a cargo vessel 
near Okerenkoko, Delta State, on January 20.  According to a 
security source, militants (identities unknown) met in 
Okerenkoko the following day and agreed to take United States 
and British citizens hostage and to target Chevron oil 
company facilities and other locations within the creeks.  On 
January 21, individuals purporting to represent the Movement 
for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) denied 
responsibility for kidnapping the six Filipinos.  (Okerenkoko 
is near the home base of FNDIC, the group that carried out 
the January-February 2006 kidnappings of expatriate oil 
workers.) 
 
IBORI: DESPITE WARNINGS, MILITARY DOES NOT PREVENT ATTACK 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶3.  (C) On January 21, Governor James Ibori of Delta State 
told the Consul General that two days before the attack, he 
received intelligence suggesting FNDIC was going to resume 
militant activities by targeting a barge or vessel.  Governor 
Ibori was incensed that despite having passed this 
information to the Joint Task Force (JTF), the JTF failed to 
impose tight restrictions on vessels plying the waters near 
Okerenkoko.  Because of this failure, the vessel was allowed 
to leave port and thus became subject to attack. 
 
IGALI: POLO'S FNDIC IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATTACK 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶4.  (C) Tom Polo's group kidnapped the six Filipino workers, 
Bayelsa Secretary to the State Government Dr. Godknows Igali 
confirmed to the Consul General on January 21.  The attack 
breaks the informal cessation of activities the group had 
obeyed since last March.  Apparently, Tom Polo, pushed by 
some of his radical lieutenants, was angered the Warri-based 
Ijaw community did not emerge with any choice nominations 
from the ruling PDP state primaries held in December. 
Governor Ibori, an Urhobo, anointed his Itsekiri cousin and 
former Secretary to the State Government, Emmanuel Uduaghan, 
to be his successor.  Further denting Ijaw political 
yearnings, the National and State Assembly nominations for 
the Warri area were Itsekiri, as were two-thirds of the local 
government positions.  Additionally influencing Polo's 
decision to carry out this kidnapping is increased clamoring 
for action from within FNDIC, Igali said. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
LAGOS 00000038  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5.  (C) For nearly a year, FNDIC has voluntarily sidelined 
itself from engaging in disruptive activities such as 
kidnapping or attacks on oil installations.  Thus, the attack 
on January 19 is troublesome.  First, it falls one year after 
FNDIC engineered its first kidnapping of expatriate oil 
workers.  That this attack occurred on the anniversary of the 
first hostage taking cannot be deemed a coincidence.  Nor was 
the statement against American and British citizens a 
coincidence.  FNDIC has restrained itself from major militant 
operations in hopes of gaining representation in mainstream 
Delta State politics.  That hope has been dashed.  Now, Tom 
Polo feels compelled to react in the face of the apparent 
disdain shown him.  If this represents a shift in FNDIC from 
a passive to an aggressive policy, then the security 
environment around Warri has suffered a significant setback 
that bodes more difficulties for major oil companies, 
including Chevron, and their expatriate oil workers, 
particularly from western countries.  End Comment. 
BROWNE