BENIN—TWO workers of National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Benin City, Edo State, Messrs. Danjuma Bashir and Malabu Ahmad, believed to have been kidnapped since March 13, have been found dead in a bush at Mosogar area of Delta State.

Unconfirmed report claimed that an un-identified contractor with the company was also kidnapped last Wednesday and his fate hangs in the balance.

Vanguard gathered that their dead bodies were found on Saturday morning by a joint search team of Police, State Security Service and workers put in place by Edo State government.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN), the union to which the deceased workers belonged, in a swift reaction, described the kidnap and subsequent murdering of the workers as not only shocking, but a renewed act of criminality against oil workers that would not be tolerated.

Sources said they left Benin and Abraka separately for Delta State University, but never got there.

According to sources, as soon as they stopped, guns were aimed at their heads and were forced out of their cars and driven away towards Delta State.

Although it could not be ascertained whether they were driven away in their own cars or not, the source, however, lamented that all efforts to trace them proved abortive untill they were found dead in the bush over a week later.

Reacting to the unfortunate incident, President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, described the tragic death of the two workers as shocking and highly condemnable and called on security agents to fish out the perpetrators of the crime.

According to him, “we condemn this dastardly act and killing of our members and call on security agencies to fish out those behind this heinous crime. “We are worried over the increasing insecurity of workers, especially oil workers and other innocent Nigerians. We call on government at all levels to find urgent solution to this insecurity. We can no longer tolerate this act of criminality on our members and indeed, Nigerian workers.”

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