Kidnappers on rampage in Kaduna

Kidnap 20 in one day
Military officer on break from Boko Haram fight falls victim too

BEN AGANDE, KADUNA

When the notorious kidnapper, Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, popularly known by his nom de gour, as Evans was arrested in Lagos two weeks ago, the whole nation was thrown into an ecstatic frenzy because of the far reaching effects of the criminal activities of this notorious criminal on the national psyche. Though kidnapping for ransom has assumed a dangerous dimension in the country, Evans notoriety in the business of kidnapping can only be compared to that of his other criminal brother, Vampire, who pulled a daring escape from the premises of a court in Owerri, Imo state where he was to be arraigned only to be killed later by the same Abba Kyari led team that captured the elusive Evans.

But while Nigerians celebrate that the criminal activities of Evans and his criminal brothers have been neutralized with the arrest of the notorious kidnapper, an equally disturbing dimension of Kidnapping is unfolding in Kaduna state that has not caught the national attention like those in the southern part of the country.

In the last four weeks, more than forty persons, from different social and economic backgrounds have been kidnapped within the state with every single victim gaining freedom only after a ransom has been paid.

What made the case of Kaduna kidnapping intriguingly interesting is that the ransom some of the victims pay to secure their freedom could be as low as fifty thousand Naira and the victims must not necessarily be well heeled off economically to attract the attention of the kidnappers. In one particular instance, a poor farmer and his son were taken off from their farms and held for several days until his relatives borrowed N170,000 to secure their release.

THE HOTSPOTS.

Three areas in the state have been identified as most prone to the activities of Kidnappers. These are the Abuja-Kaduna Highway, the Kaduna-Zaria Highway and the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road. Of these places, the Kaduna-Abuja highway has attracted most attention because of the high profile kidnappings that have taken place. For instance, a member of the House of Representatives, Umar Durbunde was kidnapped on the Abuja Kaduna highway and held by his abductors for almost a week before he was released after he reportedly paid N10Million as ransom.

Few days after the kidnap of the member of the House of Representatives, four members of the same family were kidnapped at a popular relaxation spot on the Abuja Kaduna highway and were held for four days before they were released. Like the case of the House of Representatives, these four members of the same family were only released after an undisclosed ransom was paid to the abductors.

But the most audacious of the kidnap incidence in the state was when heavily armed kidnappers blocked the busy Abuja-Kaduna highway and abducted about twenty persons in one fell swoop. Although the state police commissioner denied that the incidence took place, some of the victims who met with Vanguard confirmed that contrary to media reports, the people that were being held captive at the camp of the kidnappers were ‘in the threshold of fifty and not twenty’. No hostage was allowed to leave without paying ransom, some as low as fifty thousand Naira!

Apart from the recent kidnappings on the Abuja-Kaduna highway, Saturday Vanguard gathered that frequent users of that road have been facing the threat of being kidnapped for a very long time. For instance, the mother of the governor of one of the north central states was kidnapped along the Kaduna-Minna by-pass road and held by her abductors for two days before she was released after a ransom of N2Million naira was paid. The saving grace of the governor was that the abductors who were mostly illiterate herdsmen did not realize that they were dealing with a high profile personality. Similarly, a Kaduna based businessman was also kidnapped early this year on the road. Curiously, his police orderly who had his loaded gun with him never fired a shot and the kidnappers did not harm him. The businessman was released only after paying ten million naira.

Also competing for notoriety with the Kaduna –Abuja highway is the Kaduna-Kano highway especially between Mararaban Jos and Jaji, home to a sprawling military formation. In May, a serving Army officer who was on a course at Jaji from the war front in Maiduguri was kidnapped at Mararaban Jos, a few kilometers from Jaji Cantonment. He was kept for two weeks by his abductors who initially demanded for N20Million before settling for N1.5 Million that the family of the army officer rallied round to raise. Curiously, according to one of the relatives of the kidnapped army officer, the negotiator between the Kidnappers and the family of the abducted officer was said to be a serving policeman who also took delivery of the ransom money that was paid to the kidnappers.

While kidnappings on the Abuja-Kaduna highway and the Kaduna-Zaria highway usually get reported in the media, largely because of the high profile nature of the victims, worse kidnappings happen on the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road without getting any attention. Apart from the recent cases of the member of the state House of Assembly who was kidnapped on his way to visit his constituency; and three students and a lecturer who were kidnapped last week, most kidnappings along the Birnin Gwari axis of the state go unreported.

According to an indigene of the area who declined to be named for fear of the kidnappers, everybody, not minding his or her social status, is at the risk of being kidnapped once you are on the Kaduna Birnin Gwari road. Giving a background to what is happening in the area, the indigene said the rampant cases of kidnapping in the area can be attributed to the large presence of cattle rustlers in the area who are heavily armed and know no other profession except crime.

He explained that ‘with the relentless assault on the activities of the cattle rustlers in especially Zamfara and other northern states, these rustlers relocated to areas around Birnin Gwari and have made the road unsafe to both road users and villagers in the area. We have situations whereby people are kidnapped and ransom are paid before they are released, not minding the social and economic status of these victims. Sometimes, poor farmers are made to pay as little as fifty thousand naira before their relatives are released. Anytime these criminals are broke and are unable to finance their drug dependent lives, they pick any one on sight and ask for ransom. People are forced to pay because the kidnappers have scant regard for human lives’.

Worried by the rampancy of the incidence of kidnapping in the state, the state government has taken bold measures to equip security agencies in the state to tackle the menace. For instance, apart from providing patrol vans to all the security agencies in the state, the state government has put in place other measures to check the activities of kidnappers and other criminal elements in the state.

For instance, the state government  budgeted N1.5bn  (one and half billion naira)  for the  Procurement & Installation of CCTV Cameras for Monitoring  and  Surveillance towards Reducing Criminal Activities within the Metropolis.

Similarly, it has budgeted   N193m  (one hundred and ninety-three million naira)  for Procurement of Geo-position  Interceptor and location of GSM UMTS System to Check the Trends  and Intercept/locate kidnappers’  GSM calls, and another   N265m  (two hundred and sixty-five million naira)  for the Procurement of Drones/Unmanned Aerial Vehicles  (UAV) to identify locations of armed bandits in    Forest Reserves across the state and  the  Establishment of  a  Forensic Laboratory to assist in determining substantial evidence in cases that otherwise proved difficult in the past.  In the 2017 budget alone, the state allocated N2.6bn  (two billion and six hundred million naira)   to support the network  of  federal  Security Agencies in Kaduna with communications, logistics and materiel.

With the increased focus on the threat posed by kidnappers in Kaduna state, especially the deployment of 90 patrol vehicles to patrol the 200 kilometre Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria highway, it is expected that the activities of these criminals would reduce. But until road users of these dangerous highways notice remarkable reduction in the incidence of kidnapping, travelers on these roads will continue to jitter throughout the duration of the journeys.

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