IT is not every time that a victim runs into her tormentors and summons the will to call for their apprehension. No, not at all. But that, precisely, was what happened in Otukpo, Benue State, recently. The story, quite simply, is that the victim of a kidnapping gang sighted her abductors at a park in Ihotu. By the time the outlaws, who had boarded a bus from Otukpo to Makurdi, the state capital, and were obviously at Ihotu Park to continue their journey to wherever they came from, realised what hit them, it was too late to escape. Their nemesis was the young lady whom they had kidnapped and released after collecting ransom. As the victim raised the alarm, the surging crowd that had quickly formed found in the possession of the accused persons a bag they had collected from the young lady when she was kidnapped. The victim was said to have held tightly to one of the kidnappers inside the vehicle and, happily, the two other members of the gang who had taken to their heels were caught by sympathisers.
It was later discovered that the bag the gang members kept at the back of the vehicle contained N11 million cash. Indeed, were it not for the quick intervention of men of the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police, who were reportedly alerted by the manager of Ihotu Park and quickly mobilized to the scene, the kidnappers would have been set ablaze by the mob. The suspects have since been moved to the Benue State Police Command headquarters in Makurdi, which other victims of their criminal operations had reportedly stormed in order to identify them and lodge complaints. The Benue State Police Command said investigation was ongoing to identify more of the gang’s victims with a view to charging the suspects to court soon.
This is, no doubt, a great story. It is a story of courage and we commend the bravery of the unnamed victim in this case. With the way that the terrorists dubbed kidnappers have carried on in the country, putting countless individuals and their relations in anguish, it is clear that they haven’t the slightest regard for the authority of the Nigerian State. To cite just a few examples limited to Benue State, this week, bandits murdered the eldest son of Janet Galadima, a judge of the Kaduna State Customary Court, in a tragic turn of events. The14-year-old was gunned down after the family failed to pay the ransom demanded by the outlaws. The judge remains in captivity with her three other children, and the outlaws are demanding a ransom of N300 million to effect their release. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Gloria Ballason, the Chief Executive Officer of the House of Justice, an advocacy outfit, disclosed that the abduction occurred on the night of Sunday, June 30. During the attack, Judge Galadima’s husband, a medical doctor, was away on duty. The bandits, reported to be around 15 in number, stormed the home and took her and her children captive, demanding a substantial ransom. In another incident, a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State capital, ordered the remand of five suspected kidnappers at the Maximum Correctional Centre. The suspects, arraigned in court for alleged criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, kidnapping, acts of terrorism and rape, were reported to have blocked the Otukpo federal highway on June 13 and robbed occupants of two vehicles belonging to the state transport company, Benue Links. They were dressed in military uniform. They robbed occupants of the two vehicles of their valuables and killed one of the drivers. In April, a staffer of the Benue State University, Makurdi, was kidnapped by suspected Fulani herdsmen along the Makurdi-Naka road.
To say the least, the regime of kidnapping has dealt incalculable damage to the national psyche and the image of Nigeria as a country. Almost on a daily basis, people are kidnapped and subjected to harrowing experiences. In many cases, the victims are killed even when their families have paid the ransoms demanded by the felons after literally exerting themselves to the point of exhaustion trying to raise the money. As a matter of fact, there have been instances where those bearing ransom money were themselves abducted after delivering it to the criminals. In that regard, Nigerians are always delighted when they hear stories of kidnappers being stopped in their tracks. But such excitement, at least in the present case, must be taken in context. This is because, gratifying as the present story is, the point cannot be ignored that the arrest of the criminals in question is only accidental. Had the victim in this story not happened to be in the right location at the right time, and taken the right action, the kidnappers would have been somewhere now enjoying their loot or, worse still, giving other victims a nightmarish experience.
Our point: the arrest of kidnappers ought to be systematic, routine and inevitable. It shouldn’t be down to sheer luck, as in this case. That is why the country’s security architecture has to be reviewed to make it more responsive and effective. Emphasis should be on intelligence gathering and collaboration with communities. This collaboration must be based on trust. The security agencies will not achieve much if they do not win the confidence of the people. The foregoing is, of course, without prejudice to the need to institutionalise state policing to provide a viable platform for addressing the mounting security challenges that have given Nigeria a prominent spot on the Global Terrorism Index.
