Gerakan bagi Emansipasi Delta Niger, kelompok separatis utama yang beroperasi di kawasan itu dan yang menculik puluhan orang di masa silam, menyatakan, mereka tidak terlibat dalam penculikan kali ini.
The most high-profile of the separatist groups operating in the region, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has abducted dozens of people in the past, said it was not involved this time.