The Nigerian Football Association have urged the kidnappers of the elder brother of Everton defender Joseph Yobo to release him immediately.

Norum Yobo was snatched from his car at gunpoint along with two other men in the early hours of Saturday morning as he made his way home from a nightclub in Port Harcourt, in the Rivers State province.

The two other men, identified as Barry C Lakara and Ifeanyi Nwa, have since been released but Yobo is still being held - it is thought because of his brother’s high profile - and the NFA has call for his instant release.

“We are calling on whoever might be behind this to release Yobo’s brother promptly without any harm,” NFA spokesman Ademola Olajire told newspaper This Day. “We’re not happy about it at all.”

Olajire pointed out that his organisation was still trying to find out the details of the incident, which is thought to have taken place at 4am on Saturday morning after the trio had attended the Illusion Nite Club.

Kidnappings are a common occurrence in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country, with militants acting against the oil industry in an attempt to secure a larger share of petroleum funds.

However, it is only the second such incident to involve a sports figure following the abduction of Enyimba chairman Felix Anyansi-Agwu last month.

A ransom of five million Nigerian dollars was eventually paid to secure the release of the soccer boss and Olajire has criticised the perpetrators in the latest incident saying they were doing a disservice to the country.

“Before now kidnappings had not moved into sports,” he said. “Now that it has, we wonder what they hope to achieve by causing problems for our sportsmen and women, who are striving very hard to do the nation proud.”

The NFA have yet to make contact with Joseph Yobo, but are hoping their plea to the kidnappers will help fix the situation.

Olajire added: “This will definitely affect our vice captain. Although we’ve not been able to reach him our thoughts and prayers are with him and the rest of the family through these very trying and difficult moments.”