Police Free Abducted Nigerian Footballer

Nigerian police say they have freed kidnapped international footballer Christian Obodo unhurt and without a ransom being paid.

‘He has been rescued and we have five suspects in our net,’ Delta state police spokesman Charles Muka said on Monday. He said police staged a raid on Sunday night after trailing the kidnappers to their hideout. An AK-47 rifle had been seized.

Obodo, 28, is a Nigerian international midfielder who spent last season on loan at southern Italian club Lecce from Serie A side Udinese. He was kidnapped by four men in Effurun in Delta state on Saturday morning near the oil city of Warri, where abductions for ransom are common.

He was abducted in front of a church, where he had gone in his Bentley Continental car marked Obodo. His kidnappers had demanded a ransom equivalent to about $A190,000.