Worried by the worsening spate of kidnappings and armed robberies in Nigeria’s South-east region, where he hails from, the country’s police chief, Ogbonna Onovo, has appealed to his kinsmen to move fast to stem the tide of the rising criminality and save his job.
‘I know how happy our people were when I was appointed as Inspector-General of Police (IGP). Will it be our people that will remove me through their deeds?’ he queried at an interactive session with tradi tional rulers in Abia state, where four journalists and their driver were kidnapped on Sunday in the latest incident.
‘We are ridiculed by this act and whatever happens we are not going to keep quiet over this, stringent measures will be adopted on the issue,’ the local press quoted him as saying Thursday.
Kidnapping for ransom, which was largely restricted to the restive oil-producing Niger Delta, has now spread to other parts of Africa’s most populous nation.
But the crime seems to have become most rampant in the South-east, which is now being regarded as the epi-centre of kidnapping in the country.
The abduction of the journalists, all executive members of the umbrella Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), has brought the issue to the fore more than ever.
A myriad of individuals and groups has condemned the journalists’ abduction, and the Senate has even called for the imposition of a state of emergency in the affected areas.
Onovo said operatives from Israel had been drafted to Abia state to assist in freeing the journalists, adding that the exercise would signal a turning point in the fight against kidnapping.
A 24-hour ultimatum issued to the unknown gunmen who abducted the journalists to free them has passed without their release.
The kidnappers have demanded a 250 million naira (US$1.6 million) ransom, which they later reduced to 150 million naira (US$1 million).