FG Rejects Video Clip as Proof of Foreign Hostages’ Death

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru

By Ike Abonyi and Damilola  Oyedele



The Federal Government Tuesday still reserved some hope of rescuing the seven foreign hostages kidnapped in Jama’are, Bauchi State last month, notwithstanding the claim by their captors that they had been killed.

It rejected the video purportedly released by the Islamic militant group, Ansaru,a which announced last Saturday that it had killed the hostages who were workers of a construction company, Setraco.

Intelligence sources also confirmed that the Federal Government has not foreclosed the possibility of finding the hostages alive, as there was no concrete proof to confirm their reported deaths.

Already, three of the five countries whose citizens were abducted, Britain, Italy and Greece, have confirmed the claim by Ansaru that it had killed the hostages.

As exclusively reported by THISDAY on Tuesday, the names and nationalities of the slain foreign workers are: Brendan Vaughan (British), Silvano Trevisan (Italian), Imad Andari (Lebanese), Carlos Bou Aziz (Lebanese), Konstantinos Karras (Greek), Ghaida Saad  (F/Syrian) and Julio Alkhouli (Syrian).

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, told the press in Abuja that the true status of the seven foreign nationals could not be ascertained.

According to him, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that they have truly been murdered by their captors as claimed by Ansaru.

Ashiru said the government could not rely just on the video posted on YouTube by the terrorist sect, which showed the presumed dead bodies of the foreign construction workers to determine the fate of the hostages.

The minister added that security agencies were working round the clock either to find the bodies, if the hostages are truly dead, or to rescue them from their captors.

He said: “Before you announce that the hostages are either dead or alive, you must have the evidence. I believe our security agencies are working round the clock to ensure that we find either the bodies or we release them alive.

“For now, there is no conclusive evidence as to the status of the hostages. I do not go by reports on YouTube, I go by reality; I go by concrete evidence and once our security agencies have confirmed the whereabouts of the hostages, the whole world will be so informed. But until then, it is better we wait to ensure that everything is confirmed.”