…Taming the menace of kidnap for ransom

A telephone call to the police in London on 4th July, 1984 by Elizabeth Hayes, secretary to Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the very influential and former Minister of Transport in the Shehu Shagari administration, terminated the attempted kidnap of Dikko but may have infamously etched Nigeria’s name as a state that sponsors kidnapping. The botched kidnap, believed to be a joint Nigerian-Israeli operation, was prompted, ironically, by Nigeria’s current President, Muhammadu Buhari when he was the military Head of State; it was part of his anti-corruption war.

Although that kidnap attempt was organised and funded by the state, Nigeria is currently grappling with what has become, more or less, a lucrative criminal venture that continues to attract teeming young Nigerian, male and female, both educated and uneducated, from the cities and rural communities in a country that cannot provide jobs for its youth. In recent times, there have been reported cases of kidnapping, particularly high profile ones, from all over the country.

The list is endless: The attempted kidnap of former President Good Luck Jonathan’s mother shortly before the 2007 elections; the traditional ruler of Ukpo in Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Robert Eze, who is the younger brother of the billionaire oil magnate and businessman, Prince Arthur Eze. The popular transport mogul, Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, Chairman, G.U.O Transport Company; former Commissioner for Higher Education in Delta State, Prof. Hope Eghagha; Queen Mother, Prof. (Mrs.) Kaneme Okonjo, mother of former Finance Minister and Co-coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; father of the current governor of Delta State, Pa Arthur Okowa; Chief Mike Ozekhome; Chief Dan Odiete, an estate valuer and CEO of Dan Odiete and Co; an uncle of former governor Timipre Sylva, Chief Benson Eseni-Adigo; Miss Nkiru Sylvanus, an aide to Governor Rochas Okorocha; Princess Toyin Omosowon, the Regent of Akungba Akoko, Akoko South West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Also, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education, Prof. Olukoga Olusanya; Archbishop of Diocese of Niger Delta North (Anglican Communion), Bishop Ignatius Kattey and his wife, Beatrice; former President of Nigerian Bar Association, Okey Wali; Pa Michael Obi, father of Chelsea Football Club of England midfielder, Mikel Obi; Super Eagles player, Christian Obodo; Chancellor of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Professor Cyprian Onyeji; Professor James Adichie, the father of award winning writer, Chimamanda Adichie; former Enugu State Head of Service, Nze Dennis Eze, and the Chibok girls whisked away over a year ago by Boko Haram.

Records

Available information shows that while high profile cases get extensive publicity from the media, many of the kidnap cases get resolved without the public knowing, as they are not reported in the media. Many people would rather settle the requested ransom quietly because of the seeming fear that the life of the kidnapped person may be in danger if the security agencies and the media are brought into the matter.

A report compiled by the U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 indicated that Nigeria recorded one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world in 2013. Although The Economist claimed that Kidnapping in Nigeria was under-reported, the NYA International, a crisis management and response consultancy that specialises in abduction and kidnapping cases, ranked Nigeria as the number one country for “kidnap for ransom” incidents, based on open source news reports from the first half of 2014.

Consistently, Nigeria has fallen within the top 10 countries in the world with over 1,000 cases said to be reported annually going by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) records. In fact, Nigeria was listed as the 6th worst country in terms of kidnapping, coming behind Philippines, Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil and Mexico which tops the list.

Mend

Though kidnappings have been taking place in one form or the other in the country for decades, the present wave of well thought-out and organised kidnapping and abduction incidents is traceable to the abduction of expatriate oil workers by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta region (MEND) during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The objective was to draw the attention of the international community to the apparent degradation, disregard, injustice and marginalization of the region by the government and the oil majors operating in the area.

“The taking of foreign hostages is to draw the attention of the people of these countries to happenings in Nigeria. Their governments know and suppress this slavery and economic genocide from their people. These truths will now be forced into the open,” MEND stated in a press statement rationalising the early kidnappings.

Gradually, it degenerated to the abduction of expatriates and foreigners not just within the region but across the country and to the wealthy, influential and popular citizens who can easily be milked for money. Of course, the drive shifted from drawing attention to marginalization, disregard and injustice meted to a people, to monetary rewards and get-rich-fast syndrome.

Suddenly, the growing unemployed youths, the disenchanted middleclass who have been impoverished by Nigeria’s recessing economy and the criminally-minded ones soon discovered that it was easier and far more rewarding to go into kidnapping than armed robbery and other violent crimes.

Convener of Nigeria Centenary Group (NCG) Mr. Ariyo-Dare Atoye argued that kidnapping was becoming more sophisticated daily due to the involvement of smart, young and educated minds, drawn mainly from the unemployed youths.

According to him, “It is fast becoming a big and lucrative business with culprits getting away with the crime. Even recently, Boko Haram has bought into this lucrative crime to keep its operation alive”

He stressed that the insurgents who have a significant number of graduates among them have perfected kidnapping with a measure of success, making hundreds of millions of naira in the process. In addition, kidnapping assumed different colouration with some blaming it on religion, politics, deficiency of existing laws, unemployment, infrastructure deficit, connivance of security agents, corruption, and greed among others. It appears that the more the security agencies are making arrests on a weekly basis the camp of the kidnappers is daily swelling with more young unemployed youths joining the unlawful business.

Everyone at risk

Today, kidnapping in Nigeria puts everyone at risk – the rich and the poor, old and young, male and female, foreigner or indigene, expatriate or non-expatriate – traditional rulers and religious leaders, depending on the motive. It could be for ransom, the most common in Nigeria, ritual purposes, terrorism-related, etc. Many of the victims are fortunate to be released alive and unhurt while some have ended up being killed by their abductors like the former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chudi Nwike and founder and Managing Director of Big Joe Motors, Mr. Monday Osayande. Still, there are others who are neither killed nor released or rescued. They have remained missing since they were abducted like the Chibok Girls and the traditional ruler of Adazi Nnukwu in Anaocha Local Government Area (Anambra), Igwe Lawrence Oragwu, and that of Ihembosi in Ekwusigo Local Government Area (Anambra), Igwe Jerome Udechukwu, who were kidnapped over a year now, and have not been seen till date.

WHILE the Buhari administration was marking 100 days in office, the nation’s psyche, ego and image wwere dealt a terrible blow with reported high profile kidnap cases among others. Donu Kogbara, popular columnist with Vanguard newspapers, Mrs. Tosin Nwosu, wife of the Deputy Managing Director of Sun newspapers, Chief Olu Falae, former Minister of Finance and former Secretary to the Federal Government, to mention but a few.
Death Penalty

But why the resurgence in kidnappings? Most states of the federation orchestrated and glamourised the passage of the law which prescribed capital punishment for kidnapping, but so far there is no record of any suspect that has been prosecuted, convicted and executed in the country. Virtually all the criminal gangs involved in kidnapping are not afraid of prosecution because the trial and proceedings seem unending. The very few convictions that have been secured ended up with the convicts being given a few years behind bars.

Clearly, lack of enforcement of the laws on kidnapping has been the bane of the fight against kidnapping, according to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

A security consultant, Mr. Chigozie Ubani, expressed pessimism over the country’s ability to effectively tackle kidnapping and successfully rescue kidnap victims. Speaking recently on Channels Television’s programme, Sunrise Daily, Ubani, said the police have little or nothing to do about the issue of kidnapping because they lack training, equipment, manpower, intelligence among others to resolve kidnap cases. He said it was a blessing in disguise that there has been an upsurge in high profile kidnapping cases such as that of Chief Falae, as it would help to draw attention to the danger of kidnapping in the country.

He said, “It is even good that this happened to a man of his pedigree so that national attention would be drawn to the menace of kidnapping. People have been paying ransom and these young men and those behind them have been making money. So, kidnapping is an economic crime. The earlier the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, and other security agencies begin to understand this, the better for us”.
Lack of adequate policy and structure

Ubani lamented that there were no policy and proper structure in place to confront the menace of kidnapping, noting that it took an order from President Buhari for the rescue effort on Falae to be intensified.

“President Buhari gave an order and everything was deployed,” he added.

Besides, Ubani kicked against the practice of paying ransom to set kidnap victims free, stressing that it was a major challenge in the battle. According to him, if government and relations of kidnapped victims pay kidnappers to rescue high profile citizens, it means everyone is in trouble.

This view was shared by the former Officer in Charge of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Osun State Police Command, Osogbo, DSP Adekunle Omoyele. He said that even when the victim’s family is negotiating with the abductors, they would not disclose it to the police. He said such practice was not helpful to the police as it encouraged the criminals to indulge in the nefarious business.

“That act by the victims and their families is akin to shielding the kingpins. It is a way of protecting their interest or aiding and abetting kidnapping in the country,” he lamented.

Omoyele who is currently the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Dada Estate, Osogbo, expressed worry that victims’ families and friends were never willing to give the police the necessary information when they were in trouble with abductors. This, he added, frustrates police’s efforts in cracking down on them.

IGP and ransom

Similarly, a statement issued by the office of Inspector General of Police, IGP, Arase, said that the police frown at paying of ransom, as it is counter-productive to the efforts to check kidnapping in the country.

“As a law enforcement agency guided by rule of law and professional ethics, we do not under any circumstance encourage the payment of ransom to kidnappers or other criminals as it is tantamount to rewarding crime and motivating other criminals to follow that path”, the IGP said in the statement.

Arase, who was responding to inquiries on his remarks that ransom was not paid for the release of Falae, noted that the police was not privy to such payment and would not consent to it. He stressed that the police was professional to the core in handling the case.

“History has shown that even where ransom is proven to have been paid the life or safe return of a kidnap victim may not be guaranteed. The primary interest of the police in this instance, (and granted the circumstances of the incident) was the safe rescue of Chief Olu Falae which was achieved.

“Whatever the family did as regards payment of ransom was outside the knowledge and consent of the police and at this point we wish to advise that in future families who fall victims of such acts should rather work closely with the police component of the rescue initiative so that we can achieve the primary purpose of rescuing the victim alive instead of wittingly or unwittingly giving the impression of encouraging criminal activity by rewarding criminals with payment of ransom.

“In this instance, having confirmed that ransom was paid to the abductors, the police will be interested in widening their investigative scope with a view to exploring the lead further with regards to how payment was made and to whom such payment was made. If the payment was perfected through bank transaction the police have the capacity to track such transactions and will be liaising with the bank to enable us trace the cash and apprehend the perpetrators. This could be an added lead that could strengthen ongoing post-kidnapping efforts of the police”.

Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria

But National Coordinator, Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, believes that the personnel strength of the police force is a major reason for the current security situation and ascribed the current shortfall in the force to the neglect of the police during the military era.

He noted, “The personnel strength of the Nigeria police at the moment certainly has something to do with the incapacity of the force to effectively deal with crime and other internal security challenges”.

He recalled that to make up for the shortfall, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2000, ordered a massive recruitment drive at the rate of 4,000 personnel per year for five years up to 2004.

“However, a moratorium was placed on further recruitment after two years due to the corruption and irregularities that marred the recruitment process. Ever since, there has been no further effort to enhance the personnel strength of the police”, he claimed.

In addition, Ubani blamed some kidnap cases on politics, saying that some political actors engage the services of young men in the course of protecting themselves, intimidating their opponents, electioneering, and soon after, abandon them.

“Politicians have to purge themselves; government has to take it hard on politicians who recruit and engage the kidnappers; the law has to be strong enough, we need to equip the police with training, human capacity and we also need to look at the society in terms of our value system”.

The security consultant advocated the use of security technology to curb the trend, but cautioned that it would take a lot of money and power on the side of the government to get these things put to use.

However, the Inspector-General of Police has assured Nigerians of his determination to strengthening and enhancing the safety and security of the citizens while counting on Nigerians to continue to support and work in strong synergy with the police towards achieving its statutory mandate.

President Buhari’s view

Also, President Buhari, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, denounced the recurring incidents of criminal abductions across the country.

He assured all Nigerians that ongoing efforts to significantly enhance the security of lives and property will continue and that under his leadership, Nigerians, irrespective of their status, will no longer be left at the mercy of criminal elements.

ANALYSISTS posit that the realisation of the danger posed by this ugly trend informed the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) to urge insurance companies to formulate policies to cover kidnap and ransom cases since these risks which were alien to the country have become widespread. To this end, NIA has sensitised and trained insurance and reinsurance companies on the need and relevance of kidnap and ransom insurance in the Nigerian environment.

Beyond this, government must take urgent and drastic measures that will tackle unemployment in the country and address issues stagnating the economy. The private sector must be propelled by deliberate government policies and programmes to drive the economy to a buoyant state and thereby absorb the alarming rate of unemployed hands.

In particular, sectors like arts and the entire creative industry, agriculture, sports, etc, must be genuinely encouraged through provision of basic infrastructures, proper coordination, and other incentives, as they have the capacity to employ large workforce in the short term.

Families, religious groups and the entire citizenry have responsibility to reorient the value system to one from crime.

“We need some new strategies that would incorporate the citizenry. If you have a security challenge of this nature, you have to rely on citizens to get adequate information,” said Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights, Idris Miliki, in Lokoja.