Hitherto confined to the Niger Delta areas with immense petroleum resources accounting for over 90 per cent of the country’s wealth, later spreading to South-East zone known for having many wealthy business and industrial entrepreneurs, kidnap, the crime of abducting or taking someone away illegally by force and thereafter to demand money in exchange for releasing the victim, is gradually making inroad to the South-West and Lagos.
For sometime now, kidnappers had been on the prowl in the South western part of Nigeria that relatively was not their operational terrain until when they made dreadful incursions into Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Lagos states causing tension and pain. The latest was abduction by gunmen of Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) on the night of Monday, 15th April 2013 along Ona Iwa Mimo Street where his house is located.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Umar Manko
His driver escaped during the operation from the SUV automobile riddled with bullets, but Bamigbetan was not as lucky as the kidnappers eventually took him away. Six days after, he was released in exchange for ransom money which the kidnappers were believed to have collected.
The Ejigbo Council Chairman was fortunate to be alive to tell the story of is ordeal with the kidnappers. This incident stunned Lagos State, bringing to the fore the reality that people living in the ever bustling metropolitan city need to be vigilant, more conscious of their security.
A resident who had been living in Lagos for 30 years, Mr. Aggrey Kowa, a businessman, told Saturday Vanguard that Lagos is no longer a safe haven beyond the escapades of kidnappers.
“This kind of crime is now spreading out to Lagos. Since the militants have been dislodged in Niger Delta where kidnapping was a thriving business as foreigners working with oil companies were lucrative targets and security tightened in the South-east to effectively curb activities of kidnappers, the tendency is to shift operations to the South-West and Lagos.
“For now, the North is no-go-area because of the deadly activities of Boko Haram sect members and the frequent bloody confrontations between terrorists and military forces worsening the insecurity, kidnappers are avoiding the region,” he said. It will be recalled that Governor Babatunde Fashola at the traditional Annual Thanksgiving service for 2013, while calling for vigilance, warned that citizens should be more careful both at home and in their business premises. He noted that Nigerians look up to Lagos as a place where they could realise their dream and so more people would be coming to the state this year to seek the realisation of their dream.
According to him, “Lagos is where the Nigerian dream has been repeated in the lives of ordinary Nigerians for many decades.”
He added: “As we progress into 2013, thousands more will flood in, all in search of their fairytale. We will welcome them as we have always done. But my message to those coming is that if you are living with us, then you must abide by our laws and regulations.”
But criminals such as kidnappers, robbers, fraudsters, assassins must not be allowed to thrive in Lagos State with an estimated population of about 18 million people. With vigilance and effective security operatives, kidnappers won’t have any foothold in the state. Their operational methods are already familiar to the people of this country, judging from past experiences.
Kidnappers usually trailed their victims behind in moving vehicles to a point where they can be rounded up or double-crossed, armed with guns. They may not shoot at their victims instantly but only to forcibly seize and take them away to hide-outs, remote from where they were abducted on gun point. Thereafter, victims are tightly blindfolded, sometimes chained and cuffed, kept in solitary confinement, probably under armed watch. Some kidnappers belong to highly organized syndicates.
Immediately after being captured and now in the kidnappers’ den, victims are ordered to use their GSM phones to call family members – wives, children, husbands, brothers or sisters on the ransom demanded and then the phone switched off.
A reliable security source explained it to Saturday Vanguard this way: “Negotiations will then begin. Kidnappers can demand for huge amount ranging to several millions. They are usually not in a hurry, after several hours and even days or weeks, will keep in touch with families of victims, trying to strike a deal, but the bargaining should not drag on too long or indefinitely, because of risk to the life of the victim who can be killed if the negotiation on ransom is protracted. Families, friends of victims are usually warned not to involve the Police at any point in time.” Meanwhile, families are going through mental torture and agony and so ready to abide by any instruction given.
In several cases, ransom demands, no matter how astronomical, can be brought down, provided the kidnappers get something at the end of the day which can be picked up at an obscure, but designated place, that can keep changing until it was safe enough. For example, in the case of Bamigbetan, the initial demand was $1 million but it was speculated that only N15 million was dropped before he was set free by his captors when it dawned on them that the Police were already closing in. In some others, ransom was paid and collected, yet the kidnappers still killed their victims.
One of the most sordid incident happened in Benin City when the Chairman of Tomline Engineering Company based in the ancient city was kidnapped in an operation which took the lives of his wife, two security personnel and his driver. He was later released after some days only to mourn the death of his wife and three others. Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, in a condolence visit to the victim, said government was re-strategising, putting measures in place to tackle the crime of kidnapping, pointing out that a law had been enacted in the state to deal with the problem. Ever since, there had been joint army/police patrols in the city.
Another dramatic kidnap was that of Michael Obi Snr., father of the Nigerian international football star who plays for the Super Eagles and Chelsea of England Football Club which happened in Jos and was rescued in Kano after 17 days in captivity. Why the prevalence of kidnap crime in recent times?Victims included traditional rulers, medical doctors, judges, children, businessmen, industrialists, academicians, politicians, very old people, etc.
It was gathered that several factors including youth unemployment, lack of infrastructures, frustration, hopelessness, could be responsible for this crime.
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