Gunmen kidnap brother of Everton football star

Gunmen have kidnapped the younger brother of Nigerian and Everton football star Joseph Yobo, police said today.

Yobo is a regular fixture on Nigeria’s national team and played 30 times for Everton in the Premier League last season.

Police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey said unidentified men seized Yobo’s brother at gunpoint before dawn today. She said no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Kidnappings are common in West African country’s oil-producing Niger river delta region where militants are agitating for a larger share of petroleum funds.

Attacks on oil industry infrastructure in the past two years have slashed Nigeria’s oil output by almost a quarter, helping push worldwide crude prices to historic highs.