Kidnapping as a Business
Thisday – 02.25.2009
Like a bad dream, kidnapping which was first unleashed in Port-Harcourt on February 18 2006 by militants to press home their demands has now assumed a frightening proportion in various parts of the country. Not even the serenity and safety of Abuja is spared. Kidnapping has now become a veritable tool in the hands of hoodlums for making money.
It is distressing that kidnapping for ransom has become a burgeoning business in many parts of Igbo land. In the last three weeks Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Imo States have been hotbeds of commercially-motivated kidnapping. In a bid to increase the ransom payable after the kidnap, the kidnappers now specialize in kidnapping monarchs and traditional rulers of big towns, high profile business tycoons and politicians, children and relatives of wealthy politicians.
Recently, a couple was kidnapped immediately after their wedding in Anambra State. Prominent citizens of Anambra State who have been kidnapped recently include His Royal Highness (HRH) Igwe Mbamalu Okeke of Abagana, HRH Igwe J.C Nkwocha of Alor, Dr. Anayo Edemobi, a sibling of Professor Dora Akunyili.
In Enugu State, Igwe Uche Nwachime in Nkanu was abducted and later killed. The proprietor of Gold Riveri Hotel Enugu was kidnapped and later released upon the payment of a N5 million ransom. In Abia State the chairman of Enyimba Football had been kidnapped. Justice Awa U. Kalu was shot in a failed kidnapping bid. Some of the citizens of Imo State who were kidnapped recently include Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu, a member of the Imo State House of Assembly and two sons of the Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly.
Needless to say, kidnapping is a daily occurrence in the Niger Delta. With Abuja of all places joining the kidnapper’s map, there is the fear that the hoodlums may overrun the country. The fear becomes real because of lack of an effective and reliable security machinery to stop the kidnappers. Many people in the South-East now live in perpetual fear of kidnappers. It has curtailed the freedom of movement of the people. For example, some prominent citizens from the South-East now travel to their respective villages with full mobile police escorts. What a miserable life! If living in one’s own village can now be classified as dangerous living, then life in itself is not worth living.
We therefore call on the Federal government to move quickly to stop this criminal way of making money before it gets out of hand. The government should see the increasing scourge of kidnapping in the country as an emergency situation which calls for an emergency solution.
Happily the governments of Rivers, Anambra, Enugu and Imo States are about enacting laws making kidnapping a capital offence punishable by life jail in their respective States. Already the Abia State government has done so. While we commend the efforts of these State governments, we call on all the three tiers of government to tackle the problem from the roots. We agree the current socio-economic challenges of the country should not be an excuse for criminality, and condemn kidnapping in all its ramifications, but it should also not be an excuse for governments to turn the blind eye to its possible causes. The problems of joblessness, idleness and poverty in the land are some of the root causes of kidnapping for ransom in Nigeria. Many of the abductors are mostly jobless youths, including even graduates. If these jobless youths were gainfully employed they probably would have stayed off the crime of kidnapping.
