Kidnap for ransom and extortion (KRE) came to the fore in Nigeria
when sometime in 2007, a total of 24 expatriates comprising 3 Koreans, 8
Filipinos, a Dutchman, amongst others were kidnapped in separate attacks in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region.
On the night of 14-15 April 2014, Boko Haram upped the ante with the kidnapping
of about 276 Chibok school girls from Government Secondary School, Chibok in
Borno State. 21 of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls were freed by Boko Haram in
October 2016 after negotiations were facilitated between the insurgent group and the Nigerian government by
the Swiss government. Nigeria’s THISDAY newspaper says ‘’an authoritative presidency source informed it that
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| Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram |
Nigerian
government was coerced to part with cash to get the 21 girls out’’. While we fixated on Boko Haram’s mass
kidnappings of scores of women and girls, Small
Wars Journal reckons Boko Haram kidnapped
and co-opted more than 10, 000 boys.
Kidnapping in Nigeria is Under-reported;
Ransoms Often Paid
While Mexico came tops followed by India, Pakistan and Iraq, Nigeria was ranked fifth in 2015 global abduction index published by
Control Risk, a UK consultancy firm. Kidnapping incidents are generally
underreported in Nigeria. There is paucity of reliable crime data in Nigeria
but a guestimate by the Nigeria Police suggests there were 887 kidnapping incidents in Nigeria in 2015. Security agencies apparently go all
out when a big-shot is kidnapped than when a Joe Bloggs is involved. For want
of confidence in the security agencies, families of kidnapped victims will
rather ‘play ball’, pay ransom than involve the security agencies.
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| Source: control Risks |
Trend of Mass Kidnappings in Nigeria
Mass kidnapping is becoming a trend in Nigeria. Sometime in
January 2017, two young ladies – Veronica Otogo, Bisola Mohammed and one
Damilola Oribuyaku were reportedly kidnapped in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Their abductors are demanding
$300,000 ransom. In 2016, seven expatriates were kidnapped in Calabar, Cross River State, South-South Nigeria
and subsequently released after ransom payment. The Lagos-Ogun state axis in
South-west Nigeria is also bedeviled with mass kidnapping of residents and
students. Typical cases include the recent kidnapping of 3 landlords in Isheri
area of Lagos State. Others include students of Babington Macaulay Junior
Seminary, a model private missionary school in Ikorodu, students of Lagos State
Model College, Igbo-Nla in Epe, both in Lagos state and the recent kidnapping
of staff and students of the Nigerian Turkish International College, NTIC,
located in Isheri North, Ogun State.
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| Nigeria Turkish International Colleges, NTIC |
They were freed after ransom was
paid. Three women were kidnapped in Kaduna State, North-Central Nigeria while three medical doctors were
also kidnapped in Imo state, South-East Nigeria. Five children were kidnapped in Bauchi State
while 5 Polish sailors were kidnapped off the coast of Nigeria.
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| Kidnapping Risk Level Pers States in Nigeria (Credit: Red24) |
Kidnapping Thrives in
Nigeria Despite Death Penalty
Worried by pervasive kidnapping in Nigeria, the Nigerian Senate
sanctioned death penalty for kidnappers. Out of Nigeria’s 36 states, kidnapping
attracts death penalty in about 10 states -
Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Kogi and Lagos
where the governor recently signed the State’s anti-kidnapping law. The Lagos State anti-kidnapping law inter-alia prescribes death penalty for convicts whose victims die
in their custody. Persistent criminal activities, kidnapping in Nigeria despite
death penalty and amnesty indicates that such prescriptions don’t
deter nor rein in criminals.
Causes of kidnapping in
Nigeria
Massive Unemployment: A report by Nigeria’s National Bureau of
Statistics, NBS, asserts that unemployed
Nigerians skyrocketed to a record 31 million as at September
2016. Some analysts believe that kidnapping basks on the high unemployment rate
in Nigeria. Others factors that contribute to insecurity and kidnapping are:
paucity of state-of-the-art equipment (forensic, intelligence gathering gadgets
etc) for the security agencies and inherent reactive approach to crime
fighting, lack of security awareness and consciousness on the part of the
citizenry, impunity and a corrupt, slowpoke judiciary, amongst others. Talking
about inefficient criminal justice system, an alleged notorious kidnap kingpin,
militant leader cum founder of Liberation
Movement of the Urhobo People, LIMUP reportedly responsible for the kidnapping of Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and
other high profile kidnappings, one Kelvin Oniarah Ezeigbe, alias Ibruvwe was
arrested by security agents on 25 September, 2013 but his trial drags on till
2017, four years after his arrest. No guarantee his trial will be concluded in the
next 6 years. Reminiscent of movie scenes or events in a failed state, on January 27, 2017, a daredevil criminal gang invaded
Owerri High Court, South-East Nigeria, shot sporadically and whisked away their
leader, a notorious kidnapper identified as Chibueze Henry alias
"Vampire" or ‘’Onye Na Way Ya’’ who was standing trial. Vampires
daring get away is not a one-off. Recall that few years ago, Kelvin Oniarah Ezeigbe (mentioned above) purportedly masterminded
the escape of his men been escorted by Prison officials to stand trial.
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| Henry Chibueze a.k.a Vampire |
Amnesty To Criminals in
Nigeria, A Pat on The Back?
Recall that Imo, Rivers, and now Lagos State governors respectively offered amnesty to criminals,
cultists in their domains. Criminals
are more likely to recidivate - fall back to crime - when they waltz from
breaking the law. I expounded the implications of amnesty and recidivism
of criminals in Nigeria in one of my piece. The same Niger Delta blokes that
the Yar Adua/Jonathan administration granted amnesty are the same people still
blasting oil installations. Same Boko
Haram insurgents that parleyed, allegedly swapped
prisoners with Nigerian government on the release of 21 abducted Chibok girls
are the ones still causing mayhem. The seeming untouchability and larger-than-life
disposition of outlaws in Nigeria emboldens their henchmen and other potential
criminal elements. Perhaps we can take a cue from the
United States. Former President Obama commuted the sentences of Ms. Chelsea Manning,
a US Army intelligence analyst serving a 35-year sentence for leaking
classified military information. All in all, Mr. Obama granted 64
pardons and 207 commutations. The
aforementioned committed various crimes, they were tried, convicted, did time
and later pardoned or had their sentences commuted. In Nigeria, the trend is to
(un)wittingly encourage impunity by granting carte blanche amnesty to
hardboiled criminals. As they say, if someone is ready to do the crime, s/he
should also be prepared to do the time. Commutation, pardon or amnesty can come
later, if need be.
Recommendations,
Anti-kidnapping Tips
Prevention they say, is better than cure. To rein in insecurity and criminal activities, the Nigerian
government must tackle unprecedented proliferation of arms in the country.
There’s urgent need to provide sophisticated gadgets to the security agencies,
boost their morale and train them to be proactive rather than reactive. Nigeria
urgently needs far-reaching reform of its criminal justice system to encourage
quick dispensation of justice. Security and safety education and awareness must
be ramped up. House owners, schools, public places and organizations must
factor in ‘’Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, CPTED, while
designing and constructing their structures. CPTED is a proactive crime
prevention concept that focuses on tactical design and effective use of the
built environment to reduce or remove the preponderance for crime to occur in
an environment. CPTED encompasses
five principles: (a) physical security – fencing, CCTV cameras, lighting (b)
surveillance – intelligence gathering, security guards (c) access or movement
control - gates (d) management/maintenance and (e) defensible space. Government
and regulatory agencies must ensure schools are not operated in make-shift
apartments. Beware of ‘’insider threats’’. Some kidnapping incidents are
engineered by domestic staff; ensure holistic security background checks while
hiring such staff. You may wish to refer to 27
security, safety tips to prevent, survive a kidnapping incident
for comprehensive anti-kidnapping tips.
Conclusion:
Kidnapping
persists in Nigeria because of the penchant for treating the symptoms of a
disease rather than addressing its root causes. An analogy suffices: if two
motorcycles collide in an accident in Nigeria, the likely solution will be to
ban the use of motorcycles. No effort is made to unravel and fix the remote and
immediate causes. The security agencies must not be reactive, wait for
kidnapping to occur, ransoms paid before entertaining the public with parade of
suspects who were probably tortured into confessing to the crime. An Igbo
proverb says, ‘’onaghi adi mma mmiri zoochaa, echenyewa oku’’. Rough English
translation says, ‘’there’s no point bringing out kegs to fetch rain water
after the rain must have ceased.
Written
by:
© Don
Okereke
(Security
Consultant/Analyst, Writer)
Holistic Security Background Checks Limited
Twitter:
@DonOkereke
