Nigeria: The Implications of the Latest Oil Rig Attack

More than 20 armed attackers on speedboats kidnapped eight foreign and several Nigerian oil workers from an oil exploration rig 40 miles off the Nigerian coast at 3 a.m. local time June 2. No one has yet claimed responsibility. The attack — the first such since Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was denied his bid for a third presidential term — took place hours after Obasanjo conducted a naval forces review. The sophistication of the attack and the seemingly political motive indicate this was not the work of the usual suspect in Nigerian oil raids, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigerian Delta.