{"id":3266,"date":"2013-05-07T07:29:49","date_gmt":"2013-05-07T07:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/monguno-released-after-n50million-ransom-paid\/"},"modified":"2013-05-07T07:29:49","modified_gmt":"2013-05-07T07:29:49","slug":"monguno-released-after-n50million-ransom-paid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/monguno-released-after-n50million-ransom-paid\/","title":{"rendered":"Monguno released after N50million ransom paid"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Octogenarian and former Nigerian oil minister, Shettima Ali Monguno, who was kidnapped last Friday by gunmen in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, a stronghold of Islamist group Boko Haram, was released on Monday, police said.<\/p>\n

“I can confirm that Shettima Ali Monguno has been released today by his abductors,” Borno State police commissioner, Abdullahi Yuguda said.<\/p>\n

A security source who requested anonymity said the kidnappers were paid 50 million naira ($ 318,000, 242,766 euros), but the police chief declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the release.<\/p>\n

\"ali <\/p>\n

ali monguno: freed after ransom paid<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The ex-minister’s son, Abubakar Ali Monguno, said that the kidnappers demanded a ransom hours after the Friday abduction outside a mosque in Maiduguri.<\/p>\n

No group has claimed the abduction, but analysts have said that Boko Haram has increasingly turned to ransom payments to finance its insurgency, notably by kidnapping wealthy individuals around Maiduguri.<\/p>\n

Criminal groups have also carried out attacks under the guise of Boko Haram.<\/p>\n

Monguno, 87, served as Nigeria’s oil minister in the 1970s and held the rotating presidency of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1972.<\/p>\n

He was among a group of elders who met President Goodluck Jonathan in Maiduguri in March to discuss the Boko Haram crisis.<\/p>\n

He has repeatedly called for dialogue with the militant group and urged Jonathan to reduce the massive security deployment in the city and ease a curfew forcing all residents to stay indoors after sundown.<\/p>\n

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