Kidnapped Nigerian archbishop released

Yenagoa - Nigerian Archbishop Ignatius
Kattey, the country's second most senior
Anglican cleric, has been released by the
armed men who kidnapped him last week in
the Niger Delta, police said on Sunday.
Kidnapping for ransom is rife in Nigeria,
particularly in the oil-producing Delta region,
but the abduction of Kattey was a rare case of
a religious leader being targeted.
The multi-million dollar criminal enterprise
pushes up the insurance and security costs
for businesses, including foreign oil majors
who have often been targeted in the past.
"The archbishop was released at about 18:30
yesterday behind a filling station at Eleme in
Rivers state," police spokesperson Angela
Agabe said.
"His captors dropped him when the police
were about to close in on them. No ransom
was paid."
Victims, their employers and the police rarely
admit to paying ransoms because they believe
it encourages more kidnappings.
The archbishop's abduction is arguably the
most high-profile since the mother of
Nigeria's Finance Minister and former World
Bank Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
was taken in December last year. She was later
released.
The Church of Nigeria, which says it has 18
million baptised members, has the world's
second biggest Anglican following after the
Church of England.