Protesting The Rage Of Kidnappers

Protesting The Rage Of Kidnappers

Onike Rahaman

While listening to the presidential address delivered by Alhaji Musa Yar’adua on the occasion of the 49th independence anniversary of the Nation recently, one is surprised to note the failure of President to admit the danger posed to the national security by the activities of the kidnappers. The speech was rated to fall below expectation in both quality and content. Throughout the length of the speech, there was no specific reference to the daunting challenge posed to the Nation by the kidnappers.

By not addressing the problem of kidnapping in his national broadcast, the president gave an impression that his administration has not considered the rage of kidnappers as a social problem. However, the frequent occurrences of kidnap cases is a pointer to Nation’s poor security system.

With the avalanche of reported kidnap cases across the nation, the urge to express discontent over this national malaise becomes irresistible. As a matter of fact, the activities of the kidnappers constitute threats to our nascent democracy. From all indications, it seems the government is helpless in putting in place an effective legal control to curtail the menace.

Whatever the real motive of the kidnappers, the criminality of the act cannot be ignored. As 2011 is beckoning, there are more reported kidnap cases. Obviously, the act constitutes an embarrassment to the nation. Many have perpetually lost their love ones especially when the victims were held for ritual purposes.

All around us, the countless poor people and unemployed youths seek shortcut route to success by involving in money rituals. Of course, money ritualists use human parts and this partly explains the reason for the desperation of the kidnappers. Indeed, no one is sure of the next victim of the kidnappers.

As the nation’s politics is becoming more complex, politicians have resorted to the use of kidnappers as an instrument to secure their political interests. Now adays, high profile personalities are held hostage to negotiate political power and to secure instant gratification. My worry is not actually for the victims but our collective psyche as a people. Judging from the ordeal of the early victims of the kidnappers, ransom payable depends on social status, bargaining power and richness of the captives.

The recent happenings, in the Niger Delta Region also show the sophistication and effectiveness of kidnapping as a strategic tool employed by the militants to draw attention to their struggle.

Initially, the targets were the expatriates employed by the oil firms. Now, the approach has been abused and bastardized. It has also reached a stage when the challenge of combating this heinous crime can no longer be taken for granted.

The activities of the kidnappers regardless of the motives have become a social problem which requires and urgent social and collective action. An ugly side of this act of kidnapping is the sordid manner with which the captors negotiate with their preys.

The amazing thing about the kidnapping tales is that the victims seem avoiding telling the truth about their bitter experiences in the hands of the kidnappers. According to police and media reports, well over 500 kidnapping incidents had occurred in the recent past. The most embarrassing ones are those that involved the secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Mr. Waye Yayok, two local government chairman in Kogi State, Pete Edochie, Chief Okeke; chairman and chief executive officer of GNO Group of Companies among others. The most laughable was the cry out by the Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam that kidnappers were all set to snatch him and his delectable wife despite the size of security detail attached to a governor.

Except something drastic is done to fight this scourge, kidnapping is bound to spread like rash, because it yields huge dividends. Similarly, the police performance in handling kidnap cases is less than satisfactory. This is because, there is increase in the reported kidnap cases daily. Apparently, the existing legislations appear inadequate to curtail the crime of such severity. Hence, we need an equally tough punishment.

As a matter of fact, it is evident that the federal government has not given the problem, the attention it deserves. Rather sadly, states like Akwa Ibom and Imo have enacted laws prescribing death penalty for kidnapping in response to the federal government non-chalant attitude towards arresting the menace.

Evidently, the laws enacted by the states seem not to have desirable effects.

Clearly, the police have not succeeded in uncovering the brains behind most kidnapping incidents across the nation. Given the enormosity of the challenge of combating the crime of kidnapping, the question before the I.G, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo is that: which expertise and resources the police have acquired in cracking the serious cases of kidnapping as a crime that require sophisticated and painstaking investigation? Of course, successful prosecution of the offence of kidnapping is a sure way to confront the challenge.

Another thing that is bordering my mind is the helplessness of the police to nip in the bud the plot to hold hostage the innocent victims before such could be perpetrated. Also, police had hardly apprehended the kidnappers in the course of their operations. Does that really indicates that the police lack the expertise and facilities to combat the menace?

Again, those that are agitating for the police setting up the special anti-kidnapping units are right because of the wave of the crime. There are a lots to learn, understudying countries like Lebanon, Colombia and the U.S that had experienced similar challenges in the past. Besides, efforts need to be made to discourage proliferation of arms into the country as this is one of the pre-disposing factors that aids act of kidnapping.

Another thing is that the youth psyches are becoming attracted to this crime. With the prevalence of kidnapping incidents, the emerging generation of the Nigerian youths are the major partakers. The abominable ethic has become a norm due to aloofness of the nation’s security Agencies. Therefore, I subscribe to the idea that the rage of kidnappers could be better be tackled through spiritual intervention. In this regard, the religious bodies need to come to the nation’s rescue. Essentially, lack of adequate moral instruction pre-disposes youths to vices such as kidnapping. For the upliftment of the moral standard of our youths who principally engaged in the act, a sound religion education is needed. It is not only disheartening but unbelievable that the National Assembly have not shown any serious readiness to effect an effective legislative control to check the scourge. I think what should be the focus of the National Assembly is the enactment of laws to drastically reduce the kidnapping incidents in Nigeria. In prescribing punishment for the phenomenon, the law to be prescribed in case death penalty is considered inappropriate, should rather range between twenty years to life in jail.

And instead of government wasteful expenditure on re-branding campaign, we could rather opt for the alternative measure of moral re-awakening to save the nation out of this national malady as more people are attracted to the bedevilled act due to its lucrativeness. Candidly, any legal control put in place that does not emphasize good ethical conduct would only offer temporary relief to the nation in this season of anomie. A more practical solution to the problem will require effort to redefine our value system and re-direct our energies towards economic productivity.