Arguably, kidnapping has become the most profitable crime in Nigeria today. This is because of the huge ransoms being paid by friends and families of abduction victims, which has now made more people to embrace the illicit trade.
On May 1st, Alhaji Musa Umar, the district head of Daura in Katsina State, the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari, was kidnapped. On the same day, gunmen invaded Government Girls Secondary School, Moriki in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State. Attempts to kidnap the students were foiled, but five persons were abducted.
The abduction of the traditional ruler, who happened to be the father-in-law of Buhari’s Aide De Camp (ADC), is coming a day after the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Abubakar Adamu, gave a scary figure on the number of people so far kidnapped since the beginning of 2019.
The IGP claimed that 685 people were abducted across the country in the last four months, with the northern part of the country being the worst hit. The IGP said 546 or 79.8 per cent of the national kidnappings occurred in the North.
Adamu said: “Zamfara State has the highest national kidnap rate of 281 victims in what has been directly linked to activities of armed bandits in the state. This is followed by Kogi State with 65 abductions and Niger State with 51 persons kidnapped within the period.”
The rate of abduction in the country is alarming enough to be tagged a national tragedy and to warrant the declaration of a state of emergency.
Coming from such an authority like the IGP and coupled with the Daura and Zamfara episodes, it shows that the kidnappers have upped their ante and are becoming more daring in the face of law and order.
The issue of kidnapping has become a recurring decimal in Nigeria today, owing to the unending activities of the men of the underworld. This has, however, put a question mark on the intelligence gathering capabilities of our law enforcement agents, who were hitherto known to be good in surveillance activities.
The roads are no longer safe, even homes are no longer secured, as the news filtering in daily shows that most kidnappings occur on the road while some happens when the dare devils visit their victims at home.
With the latest development, it must be clearly stated that the state and federal governments have failed in their primary duty, which is the protection of lives and property. Most of our leaders are now focussing more on politics.
The rise in kidnappings has exposed the failure of government in keeping with its constitutional roles and has shown that the masses had been neglected and left to their own fate by the same people they trusted with their votes and who swore to protect them.
Judging by the narration of kidnapped victims, the trauma associated with the dastardly act is not what anyone would wish even his enemy. The abductors now have no limit to their wickedness; they kidnap from toddlers to the aged, no matter the tribe or religion, so far it will bring money.
Unfortunately, kidnapping has become a big business. Some of those involved in this heinous crime, who ordinarily should be incarcerated, have become lords to the people they terrorise. Some of these criminals have turned into millionaires overnight and they are using the same illicit funds to oppress the masses. They now live in highbrow areas, among the policy makers and they dine with the kings because they are also seen as being among the high and mighty.
This readily brings to mind the case of the notorious Evans, who is still being prosecuted for various kidnapping offences. The case, which is now taking forever is being delayed with technicalities, showing that our legal system needs to be improved upon in order to give more bite to the law against kidnapping.
All the laws prohibiting kidnapping across the federation need to be made more stringent by the Federal Government and the federating states, as it was the case in Anambra State during the reign of Peter Obi as the state governor. That was the era when properties belonging to convicted kidnappers were confiscated and destroyed by the state government.
The demolition of the buildings were then justified because it is the belief of the state government that they were proceeds of crime.
The law also needs to be applied strictly as done when some governors were bold enough to sign the death warrant. If kidnappers are being executed, the situation would have abated. For instance, the law promulgated by the Lagos State House of Assembly against kidnapping should be enforced by all and sundry.
According to the Lagos law, any kidnapping that leads to the loss of life would attract the capital punishment while an abduction that involves no death attracts life imprisonment. If these laws are stringently applied, there is no doubt that most of those involved in this dastardly act would have had a second thought.
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