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The upsurge in cases of kidnapping despite repeated assurances by the authorities has created fear and apprehension among the populace.
The country has recorded hundreds of kidnap cases, including even in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) involving more thousands of victims. Similarly, scores of persons have been reportedly kidnapped or killed since the beginning of 2024.
One of the worst was when seven members of the same family were abducted by gunmen in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT during which one Alhaji was shot dead while two policemen sustained injuries during a gun battle with the kidnappers.
Apart from the deceased, said to be a relative of the abducted family members, who lost his life in a failed rescue mission, one of the girls was also later killed when only N10 million out of the demanded N69 million ransom was paid.
Also, some gunmen invaded Sagwari Layout Estate in Dutse on January 7, and abducted nine persons, including a mother and her four children, as well as a receptionist and a barman on duty who were snatched from a nearby hotel.
According to statistics, there were about 40 recorded cases affecting a staggering 236 victims from January 2021 to June 30, 2023. Also, 13 kidnap incidents and 80 victims were recorded between October and December 2023.
These incidents resulted in huge economic drain. A whopping N653.7 million was confirmed ransom payment between 2021 and 2022.
SB Morgen in 2020 reportedly ranked Abuja 11th among locations with frequent abductions.
These ugly incidents occur despite Abuja being the seat of power and repeated assurances by the authorities.
Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, upon assuming office, acknowledged the problem and expressed readiness to provide the necessary logistics and tools to all the security agencies to enable them do their work.
“We cannot go and identify the criminals, it is their duty, our own duty is to provide them with the necessary tools, and I don’t want any excuses. If we don’t safeguard this place, then we are in trouble,” he said, putting the security agencies on the spot.
Indeed, Nigeria is in trouble because Abuja has so far not been safeguarded. Whether they have provided the necessary tools for the security agencies to operate or not is another matter.
However, the stark reality is that there is a serious security breach around the Federal Capital and this forebodes ill for the entire country.
Hence, it is no longer news that Nigeria has been kidnapped. Long ago.
Sadly, unlike the many Nigerians kidnapped daily in various parts of the country, what is news is the unwillingness of anyone to pay ransom to extricate the country from the vice grips of its abductors.
Recall that Isa Pantami, former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, made news of late when he organised crowdfunding for the unfortunate kidnapped six sisters. Sadly, his tactless handling of the project caused more grief. Many said his attempt was mischievous or pecuniary. Whatever, here was a man who was part of the tepid administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, who never thought it wise to make kidnapping bad business for perpetrators.
By virtue of the office he occupied, Nigerians would have been grateful if they made tracking these hoodlums easy. And, of course, it should be easy except that the security agents were equally culpable. They were either unwilling to go after the kidnappers or have their cuts of the ransom paid.
The harrowing tales of kidnapping cases are numbing, and the sheer brazenness unprecedented.
How could a supposedly secure place as military barracks be compromised, even the elite Presidential Guard? How could policemen be fleeing their stations and abandoning them for kidnappers?
Something must be wrong somewhere, somehow. What is wrong is the kidnap of Nigeria by corruption that has made the security agents ill equipped to confront the nemesis of Nigeria.
Corruption is so monstrous it has consumed even our youths, who are not too young to steal. They learned fast from the old brigade and introduced hitech to the art of looting.
Consider the unbelievable tales from the disastrous (in)humanitarian ministry where the national coordinator and chief executive of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Mrs. Halima Shehu, was suspended for suspiciously moving hefty sums of money from its accounts to outsmart the equally suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Betta Edu, whom she felt was better educated than she in such matters. Edu is also enmeshed in an almost N600 million scandal.
The former minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, is also answering questions over corruption allegations involving N37.1 billion social intervention funds during her tenure, including the curious feeding of schoolchildren in their parents’ homes during the COVID-19 lockdown with a humongous N18 billion. What a COWntry!
Nigeria is also a victim of ethnic bigotry. Some say Edu is in trouble because she’s from the minority, as if her tribe sent her on an errand. That is also why President Bola Tinubu is said to be moving key departments of the CBN and FAAN to Lagos, and it won’t be a surprise if the Villa soon moves to Lagos to beat insecurity in Abuja.
The present spate of insecurity would not have degenerated if someone had not cried out that the attack on terrorists was an attack on “their brothers” just to whip up ethno-political sentiments. Today, thousands of people have been killed by these fiendish ‘brothers.’
Both the military, the police and other security agencies seem overwhelmed and ducking bullets too. Not necessarily because of the bad eggs among them but also because someone may have tampered with the funds to procure better equipment to confront the well-armed bandits.
The fight against insecurity is fraught with curious complications that make the prospect of victory long and tortuous. It is interesting to note security agencies rising to the challenge and taking the fight to the goons. The Special Intervention Squad (SIS) in collaboration with the Department of Force Intelligence – Intelligence Response Team (DFI-IRT), the FCT Command Anti-Violent Crimes Section, Anti-kidnapping Section and other State Commands of the Nigeria Police Force successfully apprehended 16 suspected kidnappers, terrorising Bwari Area Council of the FCT and the Territory at large.
Strangely, the Rivers State Police Command arrested two Assistant Superintendents of Police for allegedly kidnapping some men and extorting over N4 million from them.
Nigeria is the only country where there are professional bandit negotiators; who know where the bandits are; who represent them and negotiate ransom on their behalf; who go into their camps to deliver the ransom under official security cover. Nigeria is the only country where a state governor would beg bandits and pay them off.
This makes banditry attractive. So, blood keeps flowing like a river.
Why would banditry stop with all the privileges attached? Why would banditry stop when Pantami and others are ready for crowdfunding while neglecting what ought to be done? Why would banditry stop when, out of fear or for whatever reason, security personnel refuse to track bandits, even when a lot of the payments are made using banks with NIN and other biometrics?
Let Nigerians procure and bear arms to defend themselves in the face of palpable government failure in its primary responsibility to protect lives and property of citizens. Community policing should be instituted whereby each local community should set up their own vigilante services, fully funded and equipped with necessary weapons for combat. The Forest Guard being mooted should be established as quickly as yesterday. Beyond that, all sponsors of terrorism, their informants and go-between must be identified to face the wrath of the law.
Banditry is purely criminal, and anyone advocating dialogue with bandits is a suspect. As it is, there is no issue on the table to dialogue over. What do they want? Why are they killing people?
Nigeria fell onto hard times the day her leaders left steering the ship of state for wanton lootocracy, bigotry and ethnicism. Nigeria got kidnapped on the superhighway of selfishness and greed.
Until we are ready to pay the ransom to rescue Nigeria from the hands of its savage abductors, the kleptomaniacs whose hands are stuck in the national till; the conscienceless jackals, every talk about stopping kidnapping is a fluke. We shall continue to read or hear hyperbolic rhetoric at kidnapping next time.
