The first time I heard of GoFundMe, it was because a young man had shared a link on Facebook about needing to raise a few hundred dollars to enable him to buy a plane ticket from California to Atlanta, for his mother’s funeral. I had my thoughts about it: about begging strangers for money, and the implied fact that no one in his family could pay for him etc. I admit to judging him (and by extension his family). My views on GoFundMe have evolved greatly since then. I understand now that some people really have no community, that sometimes one really must depend on the generosity of total strangers, and these days, I will give when I feel compelled to.
There is nothing shameful in asking for help, after all, we say in Igbo that when one’s back itches one, it is to a fellow human that one must turn to help scratch it. However, there are situations that should never arise: families having to depend on donations to pay the absurdly high ransom for their loved ones who’ve been abducted because our government has failed to keep us safe, for one. It feels too much like the impossible plot of some dystopian novel and yet, that is where we are headed.
At the beginning of this year, a family – six sisters and their father – were kidnapped in Abuja. The father was released and asked to go hustle for the N60 million ransom the criminals demanded. The family turned to fellow citizens for help. Unable to raise that by the deadline, the abductors killed one of the six girls, Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. They would kill more if they didn’t get their money, and by killing Nabeeha, had shown that they meant business.
Over the weekend, the former Minister for Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, confirmed the murder, but also announced that a wealthy friend of his had offered to pay off the ransom so that the five remaining sisters would be released. Some have rightfully pointed to how problematic it is that a former government minister would be so publicly facilitating fundraising to pay kidnappers, and what this could mean going forward. However, that is neither here nor there. The bigger problem is that fact that we seem to have arrived at a point in this country where the level of insecurity that we have is being normalised, it is simply a fact of living in Naija. Like power cuts.
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The insecurity in Naija – especially the crimes it enables is like that palm oil that only one finger dips into but it stains the entire hand. No part of our obodo Nigeria is safe from it, and it keeps spreading. Between 2020 and 2021, there were more than 400 documented incidents of kidnapping and 5200 victims. We launched into the new year with the murder of over 100 Nigerians in Plateau State. In Isekke, Anambra State, a monarch’s house was burned to the ground. An intelligence and security expert said on a news show after the Plateau incident that it would happen again because the country hasn’t shown enough willingness to persecute the criminals responsible.
On the contrary, those benefitting from the crimes are seen to be free to do so. When crime pays, it thrives. Human nature 101. His suggestion is that these criminals are apprehended, and swiftly and publicly prosecuted and punished. For this to happen, the criminal justice system needs to be overhauled, perhaps a special tribunal set up to expedite justice. Terrorists still in court after 10 years or released under negotiated terms isn’t enough deterrent, he said. And a former minister publicly raising money for ransom isn’t either. Hardly surprising that the kidnappers have upped the ransom to an even more ridiculous amount. And sadly, allegedly killed three more people.
I feel for the families of the dead. I feel for my friend whose mother died in captivity when the kidnappers refused her access to her daily life-saving medication (they still collected ransom). I feel for another friend whose nephew was killed by kidnappers (who still collected ransom). In a sane society, criminals do not have the upper hand. They do not have both the yam and the knife. Our government and our CJS must show their determination towards ending this nonsense. We cannot GoFundMe our way out of it. Nor should we.
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