CAN I HAVE YOU TAUGHTS PLEASE!

Kidnappers who seized a three-year-old British girl in Nigeria have threatened to kill her unless her father agrees to take her place, her mother has said.

Gunmen snatched Margaret Hill, the daughter of an expatriate worker, as she travelled to school in a lawless area of Nigeria yesterday, dragging the child through the smashed window of a car.

Her mother, Oluchi, told the BBC that the kidnappers had called her demanding a meeting in a town in the Niger Delta.

Mrs Hill said the kidnappers told her to meet them in a town in Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region, but 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."

The kidnappers then threatened to kill Margaret if Mr Hill did not come within three hours, she said, but have not been in contact since.

The Foreign Office has called for the "immediate safe release" of the girl, who was snatched from the oil city of Port Harcourt.

Port Harcourt is the capital of the oil-rich Niger Delta region. The Foreign Office has advised all Britons to leave this region, where expatriate oil workers are often captured and held to ransom.

While these abductions are routine, no British child has ever been kidnapped in the delta before.


Margaret's father, Mike, comes from Newcastle and works for Lone Star Drilling, an oil service company. He also manages Goodfellas, a popular bar frequented by Port Harcourt's expatriates.

The armed men forced the Jeep carrying her off the road. Before the driver could fathom what was happening, three of the men drew their guns and ordered him not to try to escape.

Unable to open the Jeep's locked doors, the gang smashed a window with the butt of a gun and dragged Margaret outside.

They then opened the door beside the driver's seat and stabbed the driver in the hand.

"Three men came out of the car while two others were inside. They were all armed but did not shoot at anyone," said one eyewitness, who asked not to be named.

"They stabbed the driver and took the little white girl away."

Neither Mr Hill nor his wife were present when Margaret was snatched. But the kidnappers apparently made contact with Mrs Hill a few hours later.

It is not clear whether a ransom demand has been made for Margaret.

She has been freed!!!

This one come Naija marry ashawo. See the face, it's obvious.