Nigeria: Kidnappers threatened to kill toddler

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

Margaret Hill, the daughter of oil worker Mike and Oluchi Hill, was kidnapped yesterday as she travelled to school by car in Port Harcourt, in the south of the country.

Mrs Hill was allowed to speak to her daughter on the phone yesterday and described hearing the little girl cry.

She said today that the kidnappers threatened to kill her daughter unless Mr Hill agreed to take the child’s place.

She told the BBC that they had called yesterday morning and demanded a meeting in a town in the Niger Delta, then allowed her to speak to her daughter who was crying.

Mrs Hill, a Nigerian national, said the kidnappers told her to meet them in a town in Bayelsa State but added that neither she nor the police had been able to locate it.

“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.”

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

Police and diplomats are today frantically working to help secure Margaret’s release.

Kidnappers smashed a window as the car sat in heavy morning traffic and grabbed the toddler, according to an official at the British High Commission.

Reports have suggested the kidnappers are in contact with Margaret’s father.

Mr Hill, who has lived in Nigeria for 10 years is originally from Murton in Co Durham in the north-east of England. It is believed that he works for Nigerian-based drilling firm Lonestar.

The Foreign Office yesterday called for the “immediate safe release” of the girl.

“We do not know who took her. We are in contact with her parents and are providing assistance,” a spokeswoman said.

“High Commission officials are in contact with the Nigerian authorities. We call for her immediate safe release.”

The British High Commission in Nigeria said it was unclear who was behind the kidnapping, but added that criminal gangs were usually to blame.

Kidnappings have become an almost weekly occurrence in the south of the country, where many foreign oil workers are based.

More than a dozen foreigners are currently in captivity and more than 200 have been taken since the end of 2005.

Hostages are generally released unharmed after a ransom is paid – often by governments that control huge, unregulated security slush funds.

But despite the increasing kidnappings, the targeting of women and children is uncommon, with attackers generally focusing on male employees of large oil companies.

The High Commission said the fact that such a young child was involved in a kidnapping signalled a worsening of the situation.

The Foreign Office’s own advice warns against all travel to the Niger Delta including Port Harcourt because of the “very high risk” of kidnapping, armed robbery and other armed attacks.

Margaret’s abduction brings the total number of ex-patriot workers kidnapped in the Niger Delta this year to 150 – 20 of those have been British.

On Wednesday, gunmen attacked an oil rig in the southern oil heartland and seized five expatriate workers: an Australian, two New Zealanders, one Lebanese and one Venezuelan.