Kidnapping For Ransom At The Seat Of Power: Time For Real Action…
It is not exaggeration to say that kidnapping for ransom is now routine in and around Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Like in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Taraba, Nasarawa, and virtually every state of the south, kidnapping in Abuja was almost unheard of. Even when it does happen, it was isolated and the response from residents is always that of shock and disbelief.
Not any more!
Today, even children in Abuja are no longer shocked by news of kidnapping as they may even know someone – a relative or a neighbour that has been fortunate to return from the many daredevil kidnapper’s dens spread all over the nations capital. As it’s usually the case with crime in Nigeria, decisive action is never taken when the act is still germinating, until it manifests into an unputdownable stumbling block consuming both those who looked the other way to enable the crime fester, and the many who only wanted to live their lives in pursuit of their legitimate means of livelihood.
Whereas we want to acknowledge the efforts of security agencies which recently culminated in the arrest of notorious Abuja kidnapper, Chinaza Philips, it must be said that he’s just one of the many criminals wreaking havoc in the nation’s capital. We want to also acknowledge the many reactionary approaches manifesting out of our many security outfits. This is regardless of the fact that these criminal acts have escalated right before the noses of our security agents and we can’t help but wonder what actions were hitherto taken to nip this evil in the bud.
Chief among those whose dereliction of responsibility becomes rather starkly egregious are our so called intelligence gathering outfits. One can’t help but wonder if our intelligence apparatchik has even been alive to it’s responsibility seeing how these criminals conceptualise, plan and execute their crimes without anyone picking up any chatter or putting up any resistance. Nigerians can’t help but wonder how these criminals, many of them unlettered and without the aid of any serious technological gadgets continue to outfox all our intelligence agencies. This is a serious indictment indeed.
But while Nigerians lament the failure of our intelligence agencies, we can’t help but wonder happened to the well publicized gains of SIM registration, especially its instrumentality in the war against insurgency and other forms of criminalities. Exactly what happened to the original plan of streamlining telephony communications using the instrumentality of SIM card registration and other layers of security as a gateway that’ll facilitate the flagging of suspicious communications by our intelligence agencies and the possibility of tracking down perpetrators? Could it have been a ruse or are some people actively sabotaging the system?
Most disturbing is the transaction during ransom drops. It is worrisome how ransom monies are dropped, mostly at popular locations, yet these monies are never tracked. What happens to leveraging on technology to embed simple trackers into the ransoma to enable security agents follow it, and possibly apprehend these gutless criminals? Surely there are devices like these out there aren’t there?
We believe that, notwithstanding, the rash of operational strategies that have, and are being announced by the police and other agencies presumably in an attempt to clampdown on activities of not just kidnappers but also the popular Abuja snatchers known as “one chance”, it is still very clear that little or nothing can be achieved without a robust intelligence gathering system.
We must therefore return to the original plan behind the drive for the harmonisation of Nigeria’s identity databases. But, even as we hurry to hope that this harmonisation may lead to improved security, we are reminded that the weakest link in security systems are human beings. It therefore goes without saying that, without sanitizing the system by ridding it of corrupt operatives, all efforts will be futile. These criminals have been emboldened by inertia. This much can never be overemphasized.
A big part of the weakness in our human capital is the preponderance of corruption among our security agents. On highways, our police, military or operatives of other security agencies are more invested in the collection of petty bribes from motorists than in the real task of securing our people. This has made traveling Nigerian roads very tortuous indeed. On the one hand, you are besotted by the uncertainty of ending up in the clutches of men of the underworld, and on the other, you are accosted by the sanity shattering shamelessness of security official as they demand bribes from motorists without scruples, fear or care.
We also believe it is time to do as suggested by the Minister of defense, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, to clampdown on Nigerians who rush to illegally pay ransom without recourse to our security agencies. This is undoubtedly one of the practices enabling kidnapping for ransom. Perhaps, it’s time to put section 14 of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2013 (Amendment) Bill, 2022, into action. The section says: “Anyone who transfers funds, makes payment or colludes with an abductor, kidnapper or terrorist to receive any ransom for the release of any person who has been wrongfully confined, imprisoned or kidnapped is guilty of a felony and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years.”
We believe that should paying ransom become necessary, then it must be handled by specialist negotiators trained for, and are adept at those sorts of things. If not anything, this will check the notorious practice by kidnappers of kidnapping ransom droppers only to turn around and request ransom before the ransom droppers are released.
So, no, it is not enough that the police and other agencies are announcing tactical alignments in form of joint task forces giving off the impression of a combined approach towards ending kidnapping in Abuja and everywhere else. Bwari, Ushafa and Usuma Dam areas that are today the hotbed of kidnapping in Abuja are for ease of description, highly secured environment in terms of the presence of security formations.
Yet, even men of Nigeria’s security agencies living in these axis are scared of ending up in kidnappers den. Without making it too obvious, this means that securing Nigerians against kidnapping is not about the number of Joint Task forces in place, but the sufficiency of actionable intel gathered using technology or volunteered by the people. Technology can be acquired, but trust can’t be bought. Our security agencies must as a matter of urgency, strive to earn the trust of the Nigerian people as this is the only thing that will spur Nigerians to see our security agents as the first stop for useful information. Because, unless and until the people can have trust on our security agencies, the battle we are fighting will be a losing one!
