There is the widespread saying in Nigeria, which has almost become a cliche, to the effect that if Nigeria does not kill corruption, then corruption will kill the country. It is certainly no less true that if the menace of kidnapping for ransom is not decisively routed in Nigeria, this crime will be the country’s unmaking.
While the military has done a yeoman’s job in checkmating the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West and North Central, as well as kidnapping for ransom, which is becoming rampant across the zones, not excluding the South-West, which was once perceived as impermeable to the scourge, give serious cause for alarm.
In the aftermath of the kidnap of 14 Abuja-bound travellers in two different buses, at Inyenle Eteke, Ogugu, in Olalamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State, men of the Kogi State Police Command had combed the Kobi forest in a bid to rescue the victims. Although the spokesperson of the police command, Superintendent of Police, William Aya, said those kidnapped have regained their freedom following a combined search and rescue operation of the military, police, hunters and vigilantes, the phenomenon of kidnapping remains a considerable threat to the lives, livelihood and property of millions of innocent Nigerians.
An indication of the seriousness of the kidnapping scourge is the fact that not even Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which should, presumably, be one of the safest areas in Nigeria, has been spared the trauma of having members of various families in diverse communities there kidnapped for ransom. Indeed, no fewer than 15 persons had been kidnapped in the FCT since the beginning of 2024.
Of course, still fresh in our minds is the case of the nine children and teachers of the Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, Emure-Ekiti, who were kidnapped when their bus was shot at and forced to stop and the victims whisked away. Although the students and three female teachers were freed after ransom was reportedly paid, the driver lost his life. It was also in Ekiti that two monarchs were attacked and killed in their vehicle as they were travelling within the state.
The dynamics of the kidnapping phenomenon continues to change across the country. Some experts have pointed out that data shows that kidnappers appear to be gaining grounds in new territories such as in Katsina, Kogi and Ondo states where there has been an increase in the number of reported kidnap cases.
It has also been estimated that in the 2022/23 period, Sokoto, Edo and Kogi reported a higher number of cases. Over 100 incidents of abduction were reported in each of these states while the FCT recorded 125 kidnap cases.
The security agencies must have the capacity to track the incidence and pattern of kidnapping and other crimes across the country in order to effectively discharge their mandate to secure lives and property.
No less alarming is the humongous amounts that relatives of kidnap victims are forced to pay to ensure the release of their loved ones. Although the authorities have opposed payment of ransom to kidnappers for the release of victims so as not to make kidnapping an attractive and profitable crime, the agony and anxiety that force families to raise money by all means to rescue the kidnapped is understandable.
Unfortunately, the humongous ransom payments only help to further strengthen the kidnappers, who are thus enabled to buy more sophisticated weapons as well as more effectively fund their criminal operations.
The latest kidnap in Kogi State brings to the fore, once more, the urgent need to thoroughly overhaul and decentralise our security architecture. Again, it reinforces the need for the country’s intelligence community to wake up to its responsibilities such that our fight against kidnapping and other crimes is intelligence-driven, geared at nipping potential crime in the bud, rather than always reacting after the crime has been committed.
