4th child kidnapped for ransom in Nigeria

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria — The 3-year-old son of a prominent town chief was grabbed by gunmen who smashed a window of his father's SUV on Thursday in the fourth child kidnapping in Nigeria's oil-rich south in less than two months, authorities said.

The kidnapping of the son of Eze Francis Amadi was a troubling indication that the big ransoms that gangs are demanding in exchange for seized foreigners may be inspiring copycat abductions of the children of well-to-do Nigerian families.

The kidnappers initially demanded the equivalent of nearly $400,000 in exchange for the return of Amadi's son, Samuel, said Azubuike Ihemeje, an aide to the chief.

They eventually settled on about $40,000, "which they said should be paid immediately or the boy should be killed," Ihemeje said.

"The chief is highly devastated," Ihemeje said.

He did not say if the ransom had been paid and added that Samuel, who was seized on his way to nursery school, had not yet been returned. The driver is being questioned, said Rivers state police spokeswoman Irejua Barasua.

Ihemeje also said the kidnappers threatened to cut off Samuel's hands if the father reported the matter to the police.

Samuel was abducted two days after Nigeria's new police chief, Mike Okiro, announced a crackdown amid a surge of kidnappings in the Niger Delta.

More than 150 foreigners — including a 3-year-old British girl freed Sunday after four days in captivity — have been abducted this year, already matching last year's total. Samuel is one of three Nigerian children kidnapped this year; the other two have been released.

In February, four missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were kidnapped there and later released unharmed.

Analysts say the prospect of large ransoms encourages the kidnappings, which first began when impoverished communities took oil workers hostage to protest pollution or failed development projects.

Gradually, more organized militant groups began to use the publicity generated by kidnapping foreigners to pressure the government for more political rights — and a greater share of oil revenues for their neglected region.

Several also have demanded cash payments instead of development projects, although the oil companies that send foreign workers into Nigeria routinely deny paying ransoms to obtain their employees' freedom.