Published by wordworks2001 December 4th, 2006
Ah, spring comes to the Niger Delta. The smell of cordite wafts from the swamps, the bumblebee like whine of MEND’s (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) speedboats navigating through the mangroves, the steady “whop, whop, whop, whop, whop,” of the Nigerian Army helicopter gunships patrolling the skies over the Ijaw’s lands. Gee, it’s great to be an expat, working in Nigeria!
That definitely was not the attitude of most expatriates living and working in the oil fields of Nigeria this past April. The abductions were increasing, hostages were becoming greater in number and the days they were being held were sometimes quite long. Those living in the environs between Port Harourt and west toward Ekit and Warri and east to Onne Port, were beginning each day getting on-line to check the local expatriate message board, Oyibos On Line. There loved ones across the globe were doing the same thing, making the website very popular.