Militancy and piracy are quite clear issues in Nigeria, and the Nigerian armed forces are always here to protect us, a service for which they frequently charge passing motorists. When I was kidnapped I was under the protection of the Nigerian Navy, a fine body of chaps dedicated to protect and serve and honour their uniforms. After the attack by shabbily dressed militants the Navy uniforms were indeed honoured, and immaculate, as at he fist sound of gunfire they took them off.
Vessels returning from offshore fields are now corralled into convoys andy escorted by light escort boats back to harbour apparently to protect them from militant attack. Though the fact that four heavily armed speed boats shot past the escort boat that was watching the barge from which I was taken begs the question "why?"
Now however the waters around Nigeria have become even more hazardous as the Nigerian Navy seems to have embarked upon an internal war of attrition. The NNS Thunder unfortunately seems to have rammed the escort shop the Sika 3. The rules for the prevention of collisions at sea are universal, and widely known even outside marine circles smaller vessels give way to larger vessels, ships always show each other the port side, etc etc, I do not know ad doubt I ever shall exactly what happened, however it cn be seen from the above photograph that surface visibility was good there were no strong seas, and it was broad daylight.
Sadly one seaman lost his life in the incident. The Militants I am sure are grateful to the Nigerian Navy though as they have now successful reduced even further the limited defences the coastal shipping int the region.
