We Will Kill Your Girl, Kidnappers Tell (UK) Mother (Nigeria)

By Mike Pflanz and Kelvin Ebiri in Port Harcourt
Last Updated: 5:27am BST 07/07/2007

The mother of the three-year-old British girl who was snatched in Nigeria said the kidnappers phoned and threatened to kill her daughter.

Nigeria's most senior policeman, Inspector General Mike Okiro, centre, in Port Harcourt. He has taken control of the investigation

Oluchi Hill, whose daughter Margaret was kidnapped as she travelled to school in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil capital, said the kidnappers threatened to kill the girl unless her English father, Mike, agreed to take her place.

"They say I can bring my husband to swap with the baby," she said. "He wanted to go down for his baby but the police commander told him not to.

"They let me speak to Margaret. It was terrible, she was crying but I said she would be safe soon."

She said the kidnappers threatened to kill Margaret if Mr Hill did not come within three hours. She has not heard from them since.

They specified a creekside location close to Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa state, which neighbours Rivers state where Margaret was snatched by five gunmen.

It is believed that Margaret has been taken from Port Harcourt, where her father works for the Lone Star drilling firm and her Nigerian-born mother runs a bar popular with expatriates, to a bush base deep in the Niger river delta.

Nigeria's most senior policeman, Inspector General Mike Okiro, took control of the investigation and flew to Port Harcourt, where more than 200 expatriates have been kidnapped in the last two years. "We can completely rule out the use of force to free this girl," he said.

Rescue attempts in previous kidnap cases have often ended in gun battles that have on occasion killed the hostages. In November, David Hunt, 58, from Teesside, was killed when a rescue attempt by the Nigerian navy went wrong.

But despite the kidnappings, the targeting of women and children is uncommon, with attackers generally focusing on male employees of large oil companies. The British High Commission in Nigeria said the fact that such a young child was involved in a kidnapping signalled a worsening of the situation.

The vast majority of those who are taken are released without harm following the payment of ransoms that sometimes run to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The government and foreign oil firms categorically deny that money changes hands but a middleman well known to the police in Port Harcourt told The Daily Telegraph that if the kidnappers had asked for money, it should be paid.

"Whether you agree or not, it will work," said the 40-year-old former private security consultant, who requested anonymity. "The problem here is that there is such attention on this case that the usual quiet handover of money may not be able to happen."

more, from a nigerian paper

Girl’s Kidnappers Want Father In Exchange
FROM MADU ONUORAH, OGHOGBHO OBANWANA, ABUJA AND KELVIN EBIRI, PORT HARCOURT

“HOODLUMs who kidnapped a British toddler last Thursday have made a novel demand from the poor girl’s father Mr. Mike Hill. They want him in exchange for his daughter.”
snip
“ Sources close to the girl’s parents disclosed to The Guardian yesterday, that though Mr. Hill was willing to submit himself to the kidnapper in exchange for his daughter, his relations dissuaded him, especially because of his ill-health.

The source who pleaded anonymity also disclosed that Mrs. Hill had been allowed to talk briefly with the child on phone late on Friday. Margaret’s mother who is a Nigerian owns and runs Soprano, a popular bar on Sani Abacha Road, GRA. The bar, which was formerly named the ‘Goodfellas’ was attacked last August by militants who abducted about five expatriates and killed two guards”
snip
“ Also addressing foreign affairs correspondent at the holding room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday in Abuja, the permanent secretary Ambassador Hakeem Baba Ahmed said the process of disbanding the militants suspected to be behind the latest kidnap had to be internal noting that “for us as a government, every Nigerian is now in danger...”

Fielding questions from local and foreign journalists, Ahmed noted: “Nigeria is not unmindful of the terrible damage that this is continuing to do to our image as a nation. The criminality involved in the Niger Delta violent scenarios far outweighs the political demands being made. When you begin to kidnap children, then a new dimension has now been added.

“Very soon, they will turn against you and me. They will be kidnapping Nigerians for ransom. A sharp line, more of a divide than engagement has now been drawn and we are starting first from Nigerians. Every Nigerian should stand against this.”
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/
Mr and Mrs Hill before the kidnap of their dauther on Thursday by gunmen in Port Harcourt.

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