AFRICA/NIGERIA - Archbishop Onaiyekan tells Fides: 16 children kidnapped in south released, University's accountant also released

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - “The accountant of the Catholic University was released after six days of being held hostage by her kidnappers,” Fides was told by Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, capital of Nigeria, where he prepares to follow the official celebrations for the 50th anniversary of national independence.
The 16 children (and not 15 as initially reported) that were kidnapped on September 28 have also been released. The children were taken hostage when a group of armed men stopped a school bus traveling to Abayi International School in Abia State, one of the states in the region of the Niger Delta, where oil reserves are concentrated in Nigeria (see Fides 29/09/2010).
According to a police spokesman, the hostages were freed during a joint police-army op, without payment of the ransom demanded by kidnappers.
In their message for the celebration of the country's 50 years of independence (see Fides 20/09/2010), the Bishops condemned the scourge of kidnapping as “an immoral, evil act that brings about the wrath of God.” (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 10/01/2010)