Five staff of ExxonMobil were kidnapped by unknown gunmen 20 hours after the Presidential elections. Sources have confirmed that this incident occurred on Monday at a Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, located within the oil-rich Nigeri Delta area of Nigeria.

Security measures have been taken with the deployment of armed personnels to Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, while operations have been shut down by the management to evade further attacks.

“Any vessel that is actively working, Mobil should now have three anchorages so that those vessels will be under security watch,” the source said. “Each of the anchorages will not stand close to each other… in order to forestall militants coming close to the vessels,” the source added.

This is just one of several incidences that occurred in the Niger Delta over the past five years. In 2009, the Annual Report of the Nigerian Police Force revealed that Akwa Ibom was the country’s top state for crimes, particularly relating to oil theft and vandalism. The state hasn’t yet to reach significant improvement.