Kidnappers on 2 December released a Chinese citizen they seized in a deadly hail of gunfire three months earlier in the southern state of Edo.
Edo state police said they worked the case with their counterparts immediately to the north in Kogi state, where the victim was recovered.
They also said vigilante groups and local hunters were involved in securing the release of the Chinese.
Further details were not provided, and it is distinctly possible that a ransom was paid.
Gunmen abducted the victim at a cement plant late on 5 September after killing eight members of his Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) protective detail and an unidentified civilian.
Touching off a firefight, the assailants ambushed a vehicle carrying five Chinese at the entrance to a site of Nigerian company BUA Cement in Okpella, Etsako East local government area.
Four of the Chinese either were not abducted or were immediately rescued at the scene from the kidnappers, who escaped into the bush with the one Chinese hostage.
Four NSCDC men and an unknown number of assailants were wounded.
Edo State is on the edge of the oil-rich Niger Delta, a longtime kidnapping hotspot.
But kidnapping for ransom is out-of-control across the country.
Kidnappers routinely seize victims from moving vehicles as well as fixed locations. They often move in with guns blazing to take out protective personnel.
Westerners, Asians and other foreigners are prized targets because of the large ransoms they draw.
Under intense pressure over the abduction of nearly 300 students from a Catholic school in the north-central state of Niger, President Bola Tinubu on 26 November declared a nationwide state of emergency and announced that 20,000 police officers would be recruited, raising the total to 50,000.
He also ordered a sharp cut in the number of mobile police (MOPOL) officers deployed to protect VIPs, leading to the transfer of 11,566 officers from protection details to deployment in areas where armed groups that engage in mass kidnappings are active.
Under the presidential order, armed protection for VIPs now must be requested exclusively from the NSCDC.
Throughout Nigeria, armed protection for foreign and local corporate personnel outside elite enclaves of Lagos and other major cities remains imperative given sky-high rates of kidnapping, carjacking and other violent crime. Senior executives require armed protection in elite enclaves.
Personnel on the ground anywhere in Nigeria for more than a few days should be alert for surveillances and alter patterns and times of movement.
Corporate personnel should avoid all of Nigeria north of Abuja. Heavily armed bandit gangs are active to the west of the capital and near it and Islamic insurgents are active to the northeast. If travel to the north must be undertaken, security professionals should be consulted. Abuja may be visited but should be reached by air exclusively.
Personnel should avoid nonessential travel to Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states, which form the core of the Niger Delta, as well as the nearby states of Edo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia and Imo. Those who must be on the ground in those states should move between heavily fortified points with well-trained and well-armed security escorts. Travel times and routes should be varied. It is essential to end all road travel by sunset.
For detailed advice, see the country summary.
