WINONA — A Winona family’s prayers have been answered: Jeff James is safe and sound.
James, 45, an oil rig worker on Transocean’s High Island VII deep-sea oil rig off the coast of Nigeria, was one of 19 hostages released Wednesday night after a coordinated air, naval and ground assault by Nigeria's military.
“He’s been released. We’re just waiting for him to come home,” said James’ wife of 27 years, Bettye, from the couple’s home this morning.
When word came of James’ release, his wife was in church at the Praise Apostolic Tabernacle.
“I missed his phone call. I was in church. God answered my prayers,” she said.
Bettye James did later communicate with her husband by e-mail.
“He said, ‘I can’t call you because I can’t find anybody with a phone,’” she said.
Jeff James is expected to land in Jackson on Friday, and his wife will be waiting for him.
A negotiator, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the raid freed seven expatriate workers kidnapped Nov. 8 from an oil rig working an offshore field for London-based Afren PLC. Another seven Nigerian hostages came from an attack carried out Sunday on an Exxon Mobil Corp. rig operating nearby. The origin of the remaining hostages remained unclear Wednesday night.
Others kidnapped included workers for construction company Julius Berger Nigeria PLC.
Others kidnapped from the Afren rig include another Mississippian, James Robertson of Silver Creek, as well as one Canadian, two French and two Indonesians.
Bettye James said her husband was held hostage for 10 days.
Oil rigs are a way of life for Jeff James, his wife said: “He’s been offshore for 26 years. He’s been in Africa for eight.”
Bettye James' father was also an offshore oil rig worker, so she’s used to the life, too, she said. Typically, her husband will come home for one month and then work for a month throughout the year.
They have three sons: Jeff Jr., 21; Chad, 21; and Matt, 18.
Mrs. James remembers talking to her husband about coming stateside. She could tell her argument wasn’t very persuasive.
“He just likes it,” she said.
Bettye James said her husband might quit for about six months before deciding whether he wants to return to the sea. She credits his safe return to the collective prayers that had been offered up.
Bettye James singled out her pastor, the Rev. Victor Taylor, for going the extra mile in helping the family cope with the crisis.
She said her husband wasn’t really in danger during the ordeal, since all the kidnappers wanted was money. “They’re poor people,” she said.
Earlier, James’ brother-in-law, Frank Vaughn, told the Associated Press the family had received a phone call that the men had been freed but had few other details.
“We feel great. It’s prayers answered,” he said. “Words can’t describe it.”
Robertson’s mother, Brenda Robertson, told The Associated Press her family had received word of her son’s release hours before and had been celebrating ever since. She said her 47-year-old son was a father of four children and had previously warned his family about the possibility that he may become a hostage in Nigeria’s restive southern delta.
“He said, ‘Mama, don’t worry because all they want is money and they’ll take care of us,’” Brenda Robertson said. “I gave it over to God, and he took care of it.”
Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell said the company was glad its employees were on their way home. Transocean is the largest offshore drilling contractor in the world.
The French Foreign Ministry issued a statement Wednesday night saying it welcomed the release of the two French hostages, calling the moment “a happy ending.”
New Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie “would like to warmly thank all those who contributed to this release, in particular the Nigerian authorities,” the statement said
A contingent of militants who claimed they belonged to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, also known by the acronym MEND, said they kidnapped the foreign workers. Militants began a campaign of pipeline bombings and high-profile kidnappings in the region in 2006.
Militants in the delta, a region of winding creeks and mangroves about the size of Portugal, want more oil money to come to an area still gripped by abject poverty and pollution after more than 50 years of oil production. However, nebulous ties exist between militants, criminal gangs operating in the area and wealthy politicians who benefit from oil revenue in the region.
Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, a military spokesman, said Wednesday night an operation to attack militant camps was ongoing in the region, but declined to comment further.
Nigeria, an OPEC-member nation, has seen its oil production rise to 2.2 million barrels a day since a government-sponsored amnesty program last year offered cash pay outs and the promise of job training to former fighters and commanders. The nation’s Bonny light crude remains popular with U.S. refineries as it can be easily refined into gasoline.
Despite the amnesty, a contingent of MEND fighters continued a campaign against the government, detonating two car bombs in the delta in March. Another set of car bombs claimed by the group exploded in the country’s capital during an Oct. 1 independence celebration, killing at least 12 and wounding dozens more.
Since the attack, South African authorities arrested Henry Okah, an alleged gunrunner long thought to be an organizer of MEND-branded attacks. Okah now faces terrorism charges stemming from the October bombing.
