Kidnapping business and its posers

For instance, I don’t know of any nation so littered with antiquated articulated vehicles, otherwise known as trailers, as in Nigeria. Many of the trailers had already become part of antiquities in the nations from where the so-called Nigerian businessmen brought them to the country. They know that in Nigeria, anything goes. Thus, the crawling antiquities not only destroy the nation’s road networks which are already in bad shape, they also constitute pervading menace and even dispatch many innocent road users to their untimely graves with unreserved impunity on daily basis. Most of the disasters are quite avoidable.

And it appears no one bothers about the appalling situation. Those behind this killer-business are known to be very powerful, financially and politically. And this is all you need to do and undo anything in Nigeria, even when such are to the perils of the country and the vast majority of its citizens. They are the ones who would not allow the rail system to work in Nigeria to create an exclusive business for their deadly fleet of vehicles whose drivers are mostly careless illiterates with no value for human lives. I doubt if there is any nation in the whole universe where deadly crawling antiquities called trailers in Nigeria have taken over almost every part of the road as we have in the country today.

It is in Nigeria that power supply, a major factor in socio-economic develop-ment, appears to be an unattainable desire or a mirage to most Nigerians. It is part of the peculiarities of Nigeria that the cost of governance, in terms of financial enjoyment of politicians in both the executive and legislative arms, is far higher than the amount being earmarked for economic development of the country.

The latest in these ugly peculiarities is the dastardly act of kidnapping of Nigerians by fellow Nigerians for monetary gains. And this has turned to a very lucrative, albeit criminal business in the country. At the initial stage, the ugly phenomenon was limited to the Niger-Delta region, where many foreigners work with the oil companies in the country. Main targets then were the foreign experts, ostensibly to draw the attention of the international community to the pitiable plight of the people of the Niger-Delta where the nation makes its petro-dollars, but the people who are the owners of the land had suffered criminal neglect over the years.

The ugly situation prompted the late Isaac Adaka Boro to embark on the struggle for the emancipation of the Niger-Delta people in January 1966. The struggle was revived by some Niger-Deltans led by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa was murdered by the satanically-goggled General, who saw him as constituting a major obstacle to his cupidity.

The seemingly unending criminal neglect of the oil producing areas gave birth to the ugly phenomenon which criminals have now hijacked, thereby exacerbating the situation. The situation has now changed from drawing the attention of the international community to the plight of a people to that of lucrative activities by criminals who are not in short supply in today’s Nigeria.

Five journalists, who are the latest victims of this criminal business, are just recently released from the den of the criminals as at the time of writing this piece. The criminals who kidnapped them on Sunday, July 11, in Abia State, initially put a price of N250 million on them for their freedom. The traumatic experience of the innocent and hapless journalists and members of their families during the period can better be imagined.

The worrying situation has thrown up some posers. It is good that the Anambra State government is already taking a stern measure by raising the crime to the level of attracting capital punishment. This means that any culprit in that state would have to face death penalty. But the poser here is why are the stern measures being taken by the Anambra State govern-ment are not by the Federal Government.

After all, the kidnappers had spread their tentacles to all parts of the country. Though the crime is more rampant in the South-Eastern part of the country now, cases of kidnapping had been recorded in both the Western and Northern parts also. This shows that the issue is a national scourge that ought to be accorded more seriousness by the Federal Government?

Another poser has to do with how the criminals operate as if the security apparatus of the nation is nil, despite the ubiquity of police check points, especially in the Southern parts of the country where the crime is rampant. The partial explanation for this can be provided by the avowed critics of the nation’s policemen. To the critics, the so-called police check points are mere legal armed robbery points. There, the police uniforms and the arms and ammunition supplied by the government confer legality on the policemen at the check points. Yet, with these, they force innocent and hapless motorists to part with their hard earned money. So, to the critics, it is not possible to curb crime through the check points because the policemen are there for quintessentially selfish reason.

Again, the inability of the government and its security personnel to apprehend the criminals remains a mystery. The kidnappers are fellow Nigerians. They communicate with people in the course of their criminal activities to negotiate price. The agreed amount will be paid by somebody to somebody through whatever means or medium. What then makes the criminals invincible perpetually? The so-called Nigerian factor must be blamed!

The very day the government is seriously ready to stop the crime, it will become a thing of the past.