Nigeria: Kidnapped journo frees himself

2012-03-21 14:19

Lagos - A Nigerian journalist kidnapped for ransom this week in the southern oil city of Warri has escaped from his captors by climbing through a window, police and union officials said on Wednesday.

"The man escaped from his abductors yesterday," Delta state police spokesperson Charles Muka told AFP, but would not give details.

The journalist, Wari-based freelancer Monday Whiskey, "escaped through the window of the house where he was kept", the Nigerian Union of Journalists state chairperson Norbert Chiazor said.

He said Whiskey was kidnapped in front of his house on Monday night and taken to another location outside Warri.

"The kidnappers made contact with his family and demanded a ransom of 10 million naira ($63 000)," he said.

Chiazor said Whiskey escaped when the guard looking after him left the building, about 16km from Warri.

"Although he was chained in both legs, Whiskey managed to escape through the window," he said, adding that no ransom was paid before the "miraculous escape of the journalist".

The police said no arrest had been made.

Scores of ransom kidnappings have been carried out in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, but journalists have seldom been targeted.

Expatriate oil workers and family members of wealthy Nigerians have been the main targets, though a 2009 amnesty deal for militants sharply reduced unrest in the region.

- AFP