Kidnapping as a national scourge

Thankfully, the 82-year-old Prof. Kamene Okonjo, who was abducted about a week ago, has been freed by her kidnappers following intense activities of the police, under the special task force set up by the Inspector General.
Her abduction, along with those of numerous other prominent citizens, points clearly to the disgusting level and the complicity that the kidnapping malaise is assuming. The arrest of 63 persons by the police is indicative that shadowy individuals, possibly in positions of authority, may have been involved in many of the kidnappings.   Besides financial gain, which makes th scourge a booming industry, political kidnapping cannot be ruled out. There is need for the authorities to address it squarely as number-one public enemy.
Professor Kamene Okonjo, mother of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance and queen of the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, Prof. Chukwuka Okonjo, was abducted from the Ogwashi-Uku royal palace in Delta State on December 9, 2012. While the authorities were running helter-skelter to get her released in Delta State, another set of gunmen on December 11, abducted Mrs. Tayo Rotimi, wife of Nigeria’s former Ambassador to the United States, Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd). Mrs. Rotimi was reportedly grabbed in front of her company, AOP Logistics Limited, on New Life Road, Ibadan, at about 6.30 pm by four hefty armed men at the close of work.
Although Professor Okonjo was released five days later, it is unacceptable that any citizen, irrespective of status, could be abducted so easily by gangs of kidnappers in different parts of the country. The malaise has assumed epidemic proportion, which should no longer be tolerated. And government should be proactive rather than merely reactive. Besides, all kidnapping victims deserve the kind of prompt and serious attention given to Mrs. Okonjo.
Whereas Mrs. Rotimi’s kidnappers allegedly demanded N200 million ransom, those that kidnapped Prof. Okonjo reportedly demanded a whooping $1 billion, which the police, however, dismissed as untrue. Nevertheless, the two incidents have further raised public apprehension and added to the alarming wave of insecurity and criminality ravaging the country. This is strongly condemnable. Kidnapping has clearly become a national malaise, with an epicentre in the South generally, and the South-South and South-East axis, in particular. Both the federal and state authorities should face the major challenge thus ensuing, bearing in mind that for every reported case, many cases are not reported for fear of victimisation by the perpetrators.
No government worth its name should allow the kind of permissiveness now associated with kidnapping which has made it intractable across the country. The fear of kidnapping has made many people uncomfortable and unwilling to visit their homes.
There is no doubt that the extant level of policing in the country is ineffective. If the country is to fully tackle kidnapping and other criminalities plaguing it, it should be ready to re-examine the structure of policing, and to eventually work towards decentralisation in line with the dictates of desirable federalism. Law and order is non-negotiable as a stimulus for peace and development in the country.
The authorities should equally be worried that the level of insecurity in the country has so overwhelmed the police, such that in most of the kidnap incidents, police orderlies were killed.  It is better to police the entire community than individuals. Experience shows that not only has attaching one or two police orderlies to an individual failed to prevent criminals from attacking, the arrangement actually makes policemen more vulnerable to daring criminals.
The proliferation of arms in the country is something that has helped in criminal activities. The infiltration of all sorts of arms shows failure of security. The governance structure has failed to live up to expectation. Government should work to curb arms’ proliferation.
One factor that has helped to promote kidnapping is the ostentatious life style of government officials and politicians. It is common to see politicians, even local government chairmen, rise from nothing to affluence, parading chains of exotic vehicles in a system that is stricken with poverty, and to the chagrin of the suffering masses.
There is no doubt that people are bitter with the system. Millions of young people have no jobs. Good governance that will ensure gainful employment to the teeming youth, and bridge the wide gulf between the rich and the poor is an urgent imperative to eradicating kidnapping and other criminal activities in the land.
NigeriaIntel