Kidnappers On The Prowl All Over

By Isaac Asabor

There is no denying the fact that many families have experienced the psychological fear and traumatic pain associated with kidnapping. In fact,  there is a resurgence of the ignoble crime of kidnapping which many thought had abated. Some few months back, Professor Hope Eghagha, Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education was reportedly abducted  along Warri-Agbor-Abraka highway and was later released. Recently, the 83-year old mother of Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Professor Kamene Okonjo, was kidnapped and released after five days in captivity. Surprisingly, while many good people of Nigeria were rejoicing over mama’s release, another sad news was revealed by the media that a special adviser to the Imo State Governor, Miss Nkiru Sylvanus, a notable Nollywood actress, was kidnapped in Owerri. Within the same week of the reported kidnap of the popular thespian, another news report  in the media revealed that five Indian sailors were kidnapped from a ship off the coast of the oil rich Delta State. Also held captive by kidnappers as at the time of writing this piece is the wife of defunct western region governor, Mrs. Titilayo Rotimi.

The big questions on the minds of many now are: were kidnappers on the prowl as a result of the yuletide season?

I am of the view that the Joint Task Force (JTF) should be deployed to some communities that are known havens of kidnappers. There is an urgent need to checkmate the activities of kidnappers  to improve the security situation in the country which has become seemingly intractable due to the Boko Haram menace.

The ignominious crime of kidnapping is fast denting the image of our dear nation. Therefore, the governments, at both the federal and state levels, should not treat this issue with kid gloves. Recently one of the governors in the eastern states was reported to have ordered the demolition of the house of a suspected kidnapper without resorting to due process of the law. Personally, I find it difficult faulting the governor’s action given the fact that the devilish act of kidnapping is provocative enough to make anyone that is conversant with the law to react in an irrational manner.   Also in my view, there is no amount of punishment that would be meted out to kidnappers that can be said to be draconian or punitive. To me, they truly deserve whatever punishment that is meted out to them.

The reason for this cannot be far-fetched as kidnappers have never been reported to have been merciful or shown compassion to their captives. A rundown of reported activities of kidnappers will reveal that many souls have been wasted as a result of the acts of wickedness that were perpetrated by them.

The recent kidnap of Prof. Kamene Okonjo further strengthened my belief that kidnappers are satanic. There is no religion, even paganism, that does not hold the belief that the elderly should be respectfully treated. A reinforcement to this belief can be found in Leviticus, chapter 19 verse 32 that says: “Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and rever your God, I am the Lord.” Remember that Professor Okonjo is an elderly person.

It is the same way foreign investors are discouraged from investing in any economic environment that has been occupied by kidnappers that indigenous investors are also discouraged from investing in any community that is known as the haven of kidnappers. Given the resurgence of kidnapping, it is very obvious that many men and women of means from various parts of the country did spend both the Christmas and New Year holidays in their respective villages. Those who travelled did so with their hearts in their mouths.

Policemen to be on the alert more than ever before as many tax payers are expecting them to play their statutory role of protecting them from of kidnappers and other criminals. They should strive to make Nigerians proud by dismantling the strongholds of kidnappers across the country and bringing them to book.

Finally, I am using this medium to urge our traditional rulers to be more security conscious by becoming eagle-eyed within their traditional jurisdiction as kidnappers cannot be said to be spirits. They live in our communities. Traditional rulers should begin to exercise their traditional roles beyond  the settlement of cases at their palaces.

Before any youth would have grown up to become a kidnapper, he may have exhibited some element of delinquency within his immediate community so much so that the traditional ruler, neighbours or kinsmen would have noticed it. It is high time we stopped passing the buck to the police and the government. The truth is that most traditional rulers and kinsmen usually employ nepotism in dealing with delinquent youths within any given community instead of reporting such youths to the police. In the same vein, parents are usually over protective of their children that are obviously wayward. There was the case of a so-called pastor in a neighbourhood whose teenage children pilfer items belonging to their neighbours and each time a case of theft involving his children is reported to him, he would dismiss it and simply say “it is a set up”, rather than call the children to order. The way the kids are going, they could someday become kidnappers, armed robbers or hardened criminals. The security situation in the nation has got to a point where parents should be compelled to hand over their delinquent children to the police. An African proverb says the hunter that refuses to detonate his dane gun would one day find his most precious son playfully detonate it for him.

In fact, parents should begin to literally draw the ears of their children whenever they err. Parents should always remember the scriptural injunction in Proverbs chapter 22 verse 6 that says, “Train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it.” In other words, parents should train their children in the way they should go, when they are old they will not become  kidnappers.

•Asabor wrote from Lagos. e-mail: [email protected]