Tackling The Kidnapping Menace: What Needs To Be Done

A disturbing security concern spreading like wildfire at the moment in Bonny Island is kidnapping. When it started some years ago, nobody thought it would become a nightmare. Gradually, it has even become a ‘lucrative business’ for many jobless youths in the Island. Today, the situation has gotten so bad that nobody is safe any longer. Serving government officials are not spared in the kidnapping menace, as their family members, relatives and friends have become worthy targets.

Abductions typically have purely financial motivations. Criminal gangs have snatched prominent or wealthy people to raise funds for years. More recently, militants and other associated groups have entered the game, seeing that there is big money to be made. Interestingly, armed robbers and other sorts of criminals are fast abandoning their trades for the more lucrative business of kidnapping. The lack of proper law enforcement or hostage recovery systems mean that, in most cases, desperate families end up paying the ransom, which in turn encourages more kidnaps.

It appears from current trends that the kidnapping epidemic is showing no signs of stopping. It is just one of the symptoms of increasing lawlessness in the country, in Rivers State, and in Bonny LGA. As it is now, the private security business is booming as wealthy citizens invest in armed guards to starve off threats to themselves and their acquaintances. Millions are being spent in this regard by politicians, business people and other high profile individuals in the society.

On the home front, many well-to-do indigenes of Bonny LGA avoid coming home for fear of being kidnapped. Worse still, none of them are favourably disposed to investing in their homeland despite the abundant natural and other resources that could see businesses of all sorts thrive in the area and bolster its economy. This posture has kept Bonny LGA stagnant of economic progress with skyrocketing unemployment rates and worsening security situation.

Kidnaps are highly organized. In most cases, the perpetrators have been watching the chosen victims for some time and will map out strategies on how to grab their quarry by choosing the best location and time to strike. This obviously played out in the two kidnap incidents that have taken place within the past nine months in Bonny LGA.

On the first occasion, information available to Kristina Reports indicate that the hoodlums were dropped by the speedboat that brought them at the waterside off King Asimini Bypass (Berger Road), snatched a company Hilux van, moved to the residence of their target at Coconut Estate Road by Simidia Junction, picked him up and used the same Hilux van to move him to Coconut Estate waterfront from where their speedboat picked them up. And off they disappeared into the creeks only to release him about two weeks later.

In the second instance, these set of kidnappers arrived in a speedboat at the Finiapiri-Ama (Amauda) waterfront at Banigo Isile-Ogono, walked into the village and opened fire on anyone they found. After scaring everyone away but could not identify their targets, they ordered the four titled citizens from the speedboat they were seated into their own boat and fled the approach of the combined team of JTF and the Navy. Obviously, whoever tipped off this second group of criminals did not provide enough information thus resulting in them picking up the wrong targets.

Imagine the painstaking efforts put into mapping the creeks, preparing routes for egress after the operation and also second guessing the security agencies by ascertaining where they would be and where they would not be at what time, ensuring they remain untraceable after the hit both physically and electronically, and also ensuring their means of communicating to the families of their victims remains secure.

The nagging question now remains what the security agencies are doing about all these. These criminal gangs are well articulated and equipped. Why can’t the security agencies take a cue from them and develop themselves and their equipment to match or stay ahead of these hoodlums. Having the same mindset as these criminals could go a long way in preempting them and keeping ahead of the game of dealing decisive blows on their plans and strategies every time they want to make a move.

For Bonny LGA, it is apparent that the security agencies have been on their toes in pursuing the goal of assuring the safety of residents of the area. This can be well attested to by many. In many cases, information available to Kristina Reports indicate that the various security agencies have lost one or two personnel in the course of their jobs. In other instances, security operatives have been hospitalized for months undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in the course of very dangerous engagements with hoodlums at sea and on land.

Recall the attack on houseboats near Fuakpa by sea pirates which resulted in near death experiences for some of the injured soldiers. Another attack happened at another military outpost still in that same region, which prompted the operation at Burukiri earlier this year where three indigenes suspected to be part of syndicate of sea pirates were killed by soldiers. There was yet an attack on a naval gunboat at Yellow Platform by sea pirates but was gallantly rebuffed with the hoodlums suffering heavy casualties. In another incident, a soldier spent almost a month at the Nigeria LNG RA Clinic recovering from a gunshot injury to his knee.

Further to these, in the course of several clearance operations in the Yellow Platform axis, several soldiers have sustained injuries but the good news is that the sacrifices they make for God and country was not for nothing as those flashpoints of kidnappings and pirates’ attacks have been neutralized. Also, the incessant sea pirates’ activities around the Bonny axis of the Gulf of Guinea, which saw pirates boarding ships and other sea going vessels, have also been drastically reduced. The last almost nine months have gone without any such incidents courtesy of the vigilance of the security agencies in Bonny LGA.

It is also on record that aside several other operations that saw the rescue of kidnap victims in and around the Bonny waterways, the rescue of four officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) who were snatched from their boat en route Port Harcourt by combined taskforce of the Nigerian Navy NNS Pathfinder and FOB, Bonny remains a highly commendable feat. Even the bloodbath that Banigo Isile-Ogono would have represented on that fateful Saturday was foiled by a combined team of troops from the 146 Battalion of the Nigerian Army and Forward Operating Base of the Nigerian Navy both in Bonny. However, as good as these success stories are, more still remains to be done. 

That the hoodlums could walk into a creek community and perpetrate sheer daredevilry in broad daylight says so much about the gaps in the security spectrum of Bonny LGA that needs to be closed. Available information indicates that these particular set of kidnappers are part of an audacious syndicate operating around the Andoni River at the boundary between Bonny and Andoni LGAs with their leader going by the alias ‘Honourable’. These set of urchins have made life unbearable for communities and fishing settlements in that axis including both Bonny and Andoni.

The security agencies don’t have to wait until something happens before taking actions. They should do the needful. Instead of being reactive they should be proactive. The solution is to bridge the gap of intelligence gathering by exposing the various intelligence gathering operatives of the various security agencies to modern strategies of intelligence gathering, providing them with modern gadgets and building better rapprochement with local communities to enhance the template of information sharing. These are the things required to fight this menace. Also, it is important to protect informants from criminals. Situations where those who provide critical information are exposed to criminals as those ratting out on them is a dangerous phenomenon that would serve the society no good.

It is also imperative that the justice delivery system works efficiently with regards to putting away for life those who threaten the lives and wellbeing of other members of the society. Almost half of the States in Nigeria have enacted laws against kidnapping with the death penalty and confiscation and/or demolition of properties belonging to those found culpable in kidnapping. Unfortunately, no Governor has, so far, signed the death penalty for any convicted kidnapper. Most times, these convicted hoodlums are even released back into the society to help with political activities or other sundry stuff by politicians. This is not good at all for everyone including those responsible for facilitating the freedom of these monsters.

We must state here too that the Rivers State Government should invest more in the state’s security infrastructure as well as provide job opportunities for the youths across the various communities that comprise the State. With gainful employment, the inducement to involve in crime is mitigated, more so, the availability of start-up capital for budding entrepreneurs which would even go farther in creating more jobs and boosting the economy.

It cannot be overemphasized that Governor Nyesom Wike has been forthright about supporting security agencies in the State by empowering them with funds and infrastructure to fight crime, curb insecurity and assure the safety of citizens but he needs to do more. Until every community across the State can sleep with their two eyes closed, he cannot be said to have done enough as the chief security officer of the State. In the same vein he needs to insist that his henchmen, the local government chairmen across the 23 LGAs adequately spend their security votes in funding the security agencies in their domains.    

This is the time of truth. It is a period for all of us to thoroughly examine ourselves and tell ourselves the truth. Insecurity is ravaging our Island. It is not that it has not been there before or that it would not be even in best times, but the truth is it has gone beyond tolerable levels. All hands must be on deck to curb this menace threatening the life and peace of the community. We cannot but avail the security agencies the needed support for them to tackle these growing trend and deal it a decisive blow.