Abuja  - Unknown gunmen have abducted Israeli citizen Ehud Arny from his residence in Port Harcourt in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta, police said Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Rita Abbey told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Arny, a project manager at Gilmore Construction Company, was abducted Tuesday night.

"We have started an investigation into the incident, but no militant group in the Niger Delta has claimed responsibility for the kidnap and no ransom demand has been made," she said.

Police have arrested Arny's Nigerian driver on suspicion of complicity in the abduction.

Nairobi/Abuja  - Nigeria's Islamic authority has told an 84-year-old man with 86 wives and 170 children that he must whittle his number of spouses down to four or face the death penalty, reports said Thursday.

The BBC said that Mohammed Bello Abubakar, a former teacher and preacher, could face the death penalty under Sharia law, which was reintroduced to the Muslim-majority Niger State, North-West Nigeria, in 2000.

Nigerian media and the BBC interviewed Abubakar two weeks ago, when he claimed there was no punishment in the Koran for having more than four wives.

Abuja  - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has changed his chief of defence staff and installed new figures at the head of the army, navy and air force.

Air Marshal Paul Dike becomes new Chief of Defence Staff, Major General AB Dambazau took over as the head of the army and Rear Admiral Isaiah Ibrahim became chief of the navy.

Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin took over from Dike as the head of the air force.

All of the men being replaced were due for retirement, the president's office said.

Yar'Adua took office over a year ago and is under pressure to quell unrest in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where militants have been attacking oil facilities and kidnapping workers.

Abuja  - Nigeria declared in Abuja Friday that it would not go back on the final handing over of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon on August 14.

The oil-rich peninsula lies at the maritime border between the two countries.

Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoakaa, said the final handing over would go on in spite an Abuja court order Thursday, restraining government from going ahead.

Abuja  - Niger Delta militants abducted eight foreigners in an attack on an oil tanker early Saturday, reports said.

Two people were also shot dead and two crew members wounded during the attack using speedboats, BBC radio reported.

It was the second such attack within 24 hours - on Friday militants abducted five Russians on board a Swedish vessel sailing to the Akpo oil field.

No group has so far claimed responsibility or demanded any ransom for either kidnapping.

Abuja  - Niger Delta militants abducted five Russians on board a Swedish vessel, the Herkules, offshore Bonny River Friday, security officials said.

The vessel was sailing to Akpo oil field when the militants seized it at 19 nautical miles offshore. it was on charter to Saipem, a subsidiary of ENI group of Italy.

Local reports said that 11 Russians and one Ukrainian were on board the vessel when the militants attacked it from speedboats.