ABUJA: The mother of Nigeria's finance minister was on Friday freed from kidnappers after being abducted from her home in the country's south last weekend, police said.
"She has been freed," police spokesman Frank Mba told AFP of the 82-year-old Kamene Okonjo. "She is in good health." He declined to provide further details other than to say that she was freed earlier Friday.
The mother of Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is also a former World Bank managing director, was abducted Sunday at her home in Delta state in the country's south, where ransom kidnappings occur regularly.
The motive for the kidnapping however remained unclear, with the finance ministry having earlier spoken of threats made to the minister.
Okonjo-Iweala, who was a candidate to head the World Bank earlier this year, has pushed to clean up corruption in one of the world's most graft-ridden nations, particularly related to a fuel subsidy programme.
Local media reported that a gang of gunmen went to the house -- locally called a "palace" due to her husband's position as a traditional ruler in the area -- in broad daylight in the afternoon.
The minister has been in a high-profile struggle with fuel importers over payment of subsidies, with government officials delaying payments to allow for verification of claims.
However, ransom kidnappings are a lucrative business in Nigeria's south, though such high-profile victims are rare. (AFP)
