Nigeria international Christian Obodo has sensationally revealed to the media in Belarus that he was courted to play for the Italian National Team by former manager <span class="notranslate">Marcello Lippi.<br /><br />''I chose to play for Nigeria. When I played for Perugia in 2002, </span><span class="notranslate">Marcello Lippi came to watch me and told me I have to play for Italy.<br /><br />''</span><span class="notranslate">But parents have asked me to play for my native country.</span> <span class="notranslate"> And in the first game for Nigeria I scored a goal,'' Obodo said to <i>pressball.by.</i><br /><br />The 29 - year - old central midfielder was kidnapped while holidaying in Warri last summer. Just a day later, he was rescued by the Nigeria Police.<br /><br />''At 8 am I arrived at the church where I was attacked by a group of armed men. To be honest, I'm slightly worried because I knew they were not going to kill me. <br /><br />''They needed only money. I asked why they do it in a day, because all the banks are closed. And the amount they asked for, was not home. <br /><br />''In fact, the kidnappers were not aggressive towards me. On the contrary, even apologized for the inconvenience and I was removed from mosquitoes,'' says the Dinamo Minsk star.<br /><br />Adding to his previous statement, Christian Obodo said:<br /><br />''Thank God, everything was resolved very quickly. Police struggled to search for me. And I was quickly found. <br /><br />''Struck by the fact that the day after, that as I was kidnapped, the national team of Nigeria refused to play until I was found. I was shocked by it. But I was incredibly pleased that so many people are worried about me.''<br /><br />The skillful midfielder joined Belarusians Dinamo Minsk in the winter transfer market after rejecting the overtures of CSKA Sofia and APOEL, Cyprus.<br /><br /></span>Photo Credit: dinamo-minsk.by