By Andrew Warshaw
June 12 – Nigerian police have freed Italy-based international Christian Obodo unhurt a day after gunmen kidnapped the midfielder and demanded a ransom.
Obodo (pictured above) was held by four men on Saturday (June 9) morning near the southern oil city of Warri, where abductions occur regularly.
“He has been rescued and we have five suspects in our net as a result of it,” Delta state police spokesman Charles Muka said after the kidnappers were trailed to their hideout after demanding $188,000 (£121,000/€149,000) for the player’s release.
Obodo, 28, spent last season on loan at Lecce from Udinese.
Last year the father of Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi was abducted in the central city of Jos before being freed in a police raid 10 days later.
He later told a court that he was abducted by men who came to his house dressed in army uniforms.
In another incident, international defender Onyekachi Apam (pictured above) was kidnapped by armed men who took his car before releasing him.
And Nornu Yobo, elder brother of Everton defender Joseph Yobo – on loan last season at Fenerbahçe – was held for 10 days in 2008.
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