The payment of N653.7 million in ransom within one year excludes that paid by the Kaduna train hostages, which is close to a billion naira.
As I was concluding this article, I read of the killing of one of the 23 rescued persons while on his way home to Kebbi, during another kidnap attack. What does that tell us? The battle is not over yet.
According to a report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based security and political risk research firm, in a report published in August, there have been about 500 incidents in the country; 3,420 cases of abduction and the payment of N653.7 million in ransom within one year in Nigeria. 564 persons were also killed in other forms of violence. The ransom figure excludes that paid by the Kaduna train attack hostages, which is reportedly close to a billion naira.
Probably angered by the intervention of a non-state actor, who appointed himself as a mediator in the previous release of some victims, the military stepped up their rescue campaign. I once asked General Irabor how an individual could take up such a sensitive role and seemed to be succeeding at it. I recall that CDS Irabor’s response suggested that the military hierarchy was not taking this lightly. That middleman is Tukur Mamu, and I’m not surprised at his eventual arrest.
The fact that it took over six months for the government’s role to be felt in the whole saga raises questions about its readiness, capacity and efficiency in policing and protecting the country as a whole. We also want to know more about the Kuje prison attack and the nexus between inmates forcefully released and the train attack. How true was it that those released paid N100 million each?
Therefore, in Nigeria, government is about the elite and the highly placed class that have the capacity to pull the strings and raise their voices to be echoed by the global community. This is most unfortunate. Nigeria should be about everybody and not a few well-placed individuals. Our all-powerful governors, with a dictatorial streak in a supposed democracy, have turned state legislatures into tools for manipulation, despite constitutional provisions and court pronouncements to attest to their independence. The legislators only make laws that please their masters – governors. It is a shame that such a political vendetta which took place at the Rivers State House of Assembly last week was orchestrated by these pawns called legislators.
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