Portuguese engineer, kidnapped in Kogi, dies in captivity

A Portuguese civil engineer kidnapped in Nigeria in October for a ransom has died in captivity, the Nigerian foreign ministry said Friday.

The ministry has received the “sad news of the death, in captivity, of a Portuguese, Mr Jose Machada, an expatriate who was kidnapped along Obajana-Kabba road in Kogi State,” it said in a statement.



Machada was seized by armed men while he was inspecting construction work along the road in the central southern part of the country at the end of October.

Two police officers assigned to protect him were killed by the kidnappers.