Cops free abducted footballer
Nigerian police have freed international footballer Christian Obodo unhurt - and without a ransom paid - in a raid following his kidnapping in the country’s south at the weekend, authorities said Monday.
Image: trends.com.ngHe was abducted in front of a church
“He has been rescued and we have five suspects in our net as a result of it,” Delta state police spokesman Charles Muka said.
He said police staged a raid on Sunday night after trailing the kidnappers to their hideout.
In addition to the five arrests, an AK-47 rifle was recovered, Muka said.
The Italy-based midfielder was kidnapped by four men in Effurun in Delta state on Saturday morning near the oil city of Warri, where abductions for ransom occur regularly.
He was abducted in front of a church, where he had gone to worship in his Bentley Continental car marked 'Obodo 5'.
His kidnappers had demanded a ransom of about $188,000.
Delta state sports commission press secretary Timi Ebikagboro also confirmed Obodo’s release.
Obodo, 28, is a Nigerian international midfielder who spent last season on loan at southern Italian club Lecce from fellow Serie A side Udinese.
Kidnappings for ransom of expatriates and wealthy Nigerians or their relatives has occurred regularly in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where Delta state is located, and occasionally elsewhere.
The brother of Everton defender Joseph Yobo was kidnapped in 2008 and freed days later, while last year the father of Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi was also abducted in the central city of Jos before being freed after a police raid.
In February, a Nigerian court granted bail to two former soldiers and five other suspects charged over the August kidnapping of Mikel Obi’s father.
Michael Obi was abducted in Jos — where he resides — on August 12 and freed 10 days later in a Nigerian police raid.
He had told the court that he was abducted by men who came to his house in a van and dressed in army uniforms. He said the men forcefully took him to the city of Kano, hundreds of kilometres from Jos. Both of the soldiers suspected of involvement have been dismissed from the army, an army spokesman has said.
In the case of Yobo’s brother, he was held captive after being seized at gunpoint in a hotel in Port Harcourt, the main city of the Niger Delta region, the heart of one of the world’s largest oil industries. The kidnappers were demanding a 1.7 million dollar ransom before freeing Yobo’s brother.
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bulwazi
Nigerians are becoming like Mexicans....Kidnapps for Ransoms...Report Abuse
Dzel
Where are the Nigerians who keep on telling us what a wonderful country Nigeria is?Report Abuse
Dzel
Where are the Nig.erians who keep on telling us what a wonderful country Nige.ria is?Report Abuse
PORQUENOMEQUIERES
@Denzelthey wont come out to comment because they are hypocrites!Here at mzanzi they kidnap each other too,it happens more often but they wont lay charges against each other as the victims are invlolved in illicit business activities.I have known them personaly,they have the mouth to talk but they dont practice what they preach.
n
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Bdoobs
He was abducted in front of a church, where he had gone to worship in his Bentley Continental car marked 'Obodo 5'._________________
Going to church in Nigeria is a risk. You could be kidnapped or bombed by Boko Harama, not even Jesus can save you and that's how it is like living in a slum.
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sabza007
@BulwaziMexicans are worse, they behead and dismember their victims. As for Nigerians, I think thats where Devil is eyeing for a nest.When they are in South Africa, they think they are in Wonderland and they start to behave as if they smell better than shitt when actually is the opposite.
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lindsay
and they are pickpocketers tooReport Abuse
ONEE
eish leave those ones alone good people.there is a Xhosa saying that goes iqaqa aliziva kunuka.
they always come make noise hear as if they are from this thee holy country whereas their problems are bigger than them and even worse caused by them
our own case sometimes its different bcz we are the mother country and mosty of our crimes are spiced up by the high population of intruders and outsiders who are here illegally.
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Warren
Nice publicity stunt to improve public and investor confidence to counter the case of the kidnapped German who died and the another one too.The police said with unusual confidence,last week already, that they would rescue him without ransom or injury. Viola.
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Reyavaya
I pity our Girls who think Nigerians are smarter than our South Africans men.Report Abuse
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