LAGOS (AFP) – A Briton held hostage in southern Nigeria has fallen “very ill” after contracting a “strange” illness, the armed group that kidnapped him said Friday, adding that the man would be treated locally.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the country's main armed group, did not identify the hostage, but it has held two British oil workers, Robin Hughes and Matthew Maguire, since September.
“One of the British hostages in our custody has contracted a strange sickness and happens to be very ill,” MEND said in a statement. “We cannot disclose the identity so as not to panic his family.”
“A local doctor has been arranged to review his condition and we hope the situation can be stabilized.”
The group said the sick hostage would be treated locally, linking their decision to the inability of MEND's suspected leader Henry Okah, who was detained in February 2008, to seek treatment for a renal problem abroad.
“MEND will follow the example of the Nigerian government by managing his health conditions locally like is being done in Henry Okah's case while the President of Nigeria (Umaru Yar'Adua) sneaks to foreign hospitals for medical treatment,” the statement said.
Okah's wife has pleaded for the government to allow him to get treatment abroad. The suspected MEND leader faces charges that carry the death penalty, including treason, terrorism and arms trafficking.
MEND released pictures of Hughes and Maguire on January 11 and said at the time that the two were “alive and well.”
A week later, the armed group said it had moved the pair to another location after what it claimed was a botched rescue attempt by government troops in which civilians were hurt.
The Britons were part of a group of 27 oil workers, including five foreign nationals and 22 Nigerians, taken hostage by gunmen who hijacked their vessel in the volatile Niger Delta in September.
MEND said it had rescued the hostages from other gunmen and released all but the two British nationals.
For the past three years, armed groups in the oil-rich Niger Delta, MEND being the most prominent, have undertaken a series of attacks and kidnappings against oil industry and government targets in southern Nigeria.
Most hostages are released unharmed after a few days or weeks, often after a ransom is paid.
The groups claim to be acting on behalf of the impoverished local population in fighting for a fairer share of the oil wealth.
MEND last week called off a four-month-old truce after an army raid and warned of “hurricane” attacks.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has cost Nigeria its position as Africa's leading crude exporter. Its oil output has fallen by about a quarter since 2006.