808 Nigerians kidnapped in seven months

Eight hundred and eight Nigerians were kidnapped in different parts of the country between January and July this year, a tally by Daily Trust revealed.

The tally, which is based on reported cases in the media (Newspapers) also shows that out of the N4.2 billion demanded in ransom, the sum of N96.4 million was paid to the kidnappers to secure the victims’ release.

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Kidnapping remains the foremost security threat to foreign nationals, prominent and affluent locals and ordinary citizens in many parts of Nigeria. Although it was once primarily a Niger Delta-based problem, with militant groups targeting oil and gas officials for financial and political purposes, it has spread beyond the Delta region and has changed in both breadth and scope.

Although the Nigeria Police arrested and paraded hundreds of suspected kidnappers in different commands within the period under review, they failed to provide details of those so far convicted.

Lawyers who spoke to Daily Trust noted that though there were laws on kidnapping, they amounted to nothing if they were not fully implemented.

The reported cases reviewed by Daily Trust were recorded in 33 states namely: Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.

A breakdown of the cases according to the zones show that the oil-rich South-South zone recorded the highest number of cases with Delta State topping the tally with 14 cases followed by Ondo State with 11 cases. Other cases in the zone are: Edo (10), Cross River (9) while Rivers recorded the least number of cases in the zone (3).

While the North-Central zone recorded the second-highest number of cases with Niger State topping the tally the North-West zone recorded the third-highest number of cases with President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina topping in the zone. Katsina recorded 17 kidnapped cases in the period under review.

With 16 cases, the North-East zone came fourth on the list while the South-East and South-West took fifth and sixth positions with 14 and 9 cases respectively.

Five states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are on top of the tally. While the FCT recorded a total of 22 cases, Katsina followed with 19 cases, then Kaduna and Niger, which had 19 and 18 cases respectively. Delta and Niger recorded 14 cases each.

A further breakdown of the reported cases by months shows that January recorded the highest number of cases totalling 248 followed by July during which 130 cases were recorded while March recorded 121 cases. Similarly, there were 114 reported cases in February, 109 cases in June while April and May recorded 45 and 41 cases respectively.

The rise and rise of kidnapping

Initially rampant in the 17th Century during the era of the slave trade when able-bodied young men and women were abducted and sold to slave merchants from Europe and America, kidnapping used to occur once in a blue moon in Nigeria, and victims were children in rural communities, who were said to have been used for money rituals. It graduated to occasional stories of the abduction of opposing gang members over the years.

A report by Hiscox Group in 2001 indicated that in 1992 only one incident of kidnapping took place in the country. In 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996, there was no recorded incident of kidnapping. In 1997 two persons were kidnapped, in 1998 six persons were kidnapped.

Incidents of kidnapping began to shoot up in 1999 with as many as 24 being taken, and this may not be unconnected with the struggle for political power.

In comparison with the cases of kidnapping in other parts of the world as of 1999, Colombia topped with some 972 kidnap cases, and Mexico followed with 402 cases. Between 1999 and 2007, kidnapping increased in the Niger Delta region.

It was explained away as a reaction to environmental neglect, which the geopolitical zone had suffered.

Then, in the South-East, the criminal act reared its ugly head, taking over from armed robbery, which was not as lucrative as the kidnapping of political and business figures.

Now, the crime has spread to the North-Central, North-East, and North-West, with herdsmen who are fast losing land for grazing and cattle to rustlers resorting to it as a more lucrative enterprise.

Victims

In a recent incident in which 20 people were abducted from Keke community of Kaduna Millennium City in Chikun Local Government Area of  Kaduna State, the gunmen demanded a collective ransom of N900 million to release the victims.

A coordinated operation, which residents of Keke said lasted hours, saw gunmen who posed as security agents in military and police uniforms mount roadblocks in the community.

Those abducted included a 19-year-old female food vendor whose family said the kidnappers had demanded N200 million for her release, failure of which they would “turn her into their wife.”

The victim’s uncle, who didn’t want his name mentioned for security reasons, told Daily Trust that his niece was abducted while returning home around 8:30 pm.

“The kidnappers called us on Monday evening to demand for N200 million as ransom and then they called again yesterday [Tuesday] afternoon asking if the money was ready,” he said.

“Her father is a commercial tricycle operator and the tricycle does not even belong to him.

“They threatened that if we fail to raise the ransom she will become their wife,” he said.

Others who were victims of kidnappers during the period under review are two international footballers: Super Eagles forward, Dayo Ojo and a player with Abia Comets’, Benjamin Iluyomade, who were abducted in March while driving on the Benin-Owo expressway.

The two men were traveling from Akure on a break, following the suspension of the Nigerian league in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although they were later released, this was only made possible by the payment of ransom as the abductors were said to have earlier demanded the sum of N100 million before eventually scaling down to N20 million.

Also in May this year, the police in Oyo State paraded seven suspects as the kidnappers of two-year-old twins of a popular Ibadan Islamic cleric, Taofek Azeez, better known as “Akewugbagold.”

The twins, a male and a female, were earlier on April 25 kidnapped at gunpoint at Abatakan area of Ojoo, Ibadan, Oyo State by abductors who were reportedly wielding guns, cutlasses, and other dangerous weapons.

The abductors who attacked the cleric’s wife before taking away the twins to an unknown destination were said to have later demanded for a ransom of N50 million before the babies would be released.

Elsewhere in Taraba State, unidentified gunmen on Monday, June 8, kidnapped a judiciary official in the state capital, Jalingo.

The victim, the president of the Customary Court, was reportedly taken from his home in the early hours of the fateful day.

The state police command later stated that they were investigating the incident and deploying resources to rescue the official.

Anti-kidnapping laws in Nigeria

Kidnapping is not contained in the exclusive list of the Nigerian Constitution, therefore, it is state Houses of Assembly that have the powers to enact such laws. Along this line, many state governments have done so.

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State was one of the governors in the Niger Delta region to approve the death penalty for kidnappers in 2013.

Ex- Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, also approved capital punishment for kidnapping in 2013. Oshiomhole had declared that the death penalty in the state applied to all acts of kidnapping, whether or not it involved murder.

The Delta House of Assembly also passed the Anti-Kidnapping Bill 2013, imposing a death sentence on any person convicted of kidnapping in the state, into law.

Abia, Akwa, Ibom, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Cross River and Imo have the same law.  Similarly, the governor of Abia State promulgated an anti-kidnapping law to save the state, which recorded a high number of kidnap cases in the South-East zone with most of the incidents occurring in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

The law, like others, prescribes the death sentence for convicts. In the same vein, the Anambra State House of Assembly made kidnapping a capital offence.

Similarly, the Kogi State Executive Council approved the death penalty for kidnapping and other related criminal activities in the state. Despite all these laws, no kidnapper has faced the ultimate death penalty.

‘Police not doing enough’

The Convener, Say No Campaign Nigeria (SNC-Nigeria), Ezenwa Nwagwu, said the increase in cases of kidnapping may not be unconnected to the increase in the infusion of technology into the nation’s financial system, less cash on people and homes.

“Criminals, collaborating with unscrupulous security agents and bank officials have made it lucrative. Criminals exploit our corrupt and annoyingly slow judicial landscape and weak sanction regimes.

“Once a criminal is arrested the judicial activity comes in. Even with the best prosecutorial skills, the police will always have to contend with a slow judiciary that is powerful on technicalities but shamefully weak in the dispensation of justice,” Nwagwu said.

On his part, the Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Dr. Benson Olugbuo, said the police were not doing enough as they were hampered by lack of adequate funds and modern technology to fight kidnapping, bad eggs in the system, inter-agency rivalry and lack of diligent prosecution.

Laws must be implemented to tackle crime

The Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), Frank Tietie Esq, said the spate of kidnapping is a reflection of the worsening insecurity situation in Nigeria.

“It has got nothing to do with the quality of anti-kidnapping laws. No matter how well crafted a law, it is its implementation that will determine its effectiveness,” had said.

“The problem of kidnapping has a lot less to do with laws but more to do with the ability of law enforcement agencies to arrest and prosecute kidnappers.

“A preliminary consideration should be about prevention of the crime. This has to do with active intelligence gathering at the local and community levels by residents and the police. Laws cannot take the place of the people element in stemming the rising tide of kidnapping in Nigeria.”

In the same vein, E.M.D. Umukoro Esq said the law exists as a deterrent to crimes but where the law is not enforced in penalising offences, it encourages impunity and more criminality in the society.

He said after identifying the gaps in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), he has come to the conclusion that the law is not as effective as envisaged and “the law generally is observed more in the breach.”

Police keep mum

Although the Nigeria Police Force have arrested and paraded several kidnapping suspects in different parts of the country, attempts to reach the spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force (DCP), Frank Mba to provide information on the number of suspected kidnappers being prosecuted or convicted were unsuccessful.

Daily Trust first sent him questions on Monday, July 20th with a reminder on Wednesday, July 29th.  A third reminder was sent on August 11, but at press time, Mba was yet to respond.