Before his arrest and parade by the police for the kidnap and murder of a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ikenna Nwosu lived a flamboyant life in his community in Mgbidi, Oru East Council Area of Imo State. To the unsuspecting neighbourhood, Nwosu and two of his accomplices, Eze Chukwu and Chidi Anyiam are successful businessmen who conduct their businesses outside the state.
Nwosu, the ringleader of the notorious kidnap gang, is so well known in the community for his magnanimity that churches scramble to have him in their midst. Such is his penchant for extravagant spending that he earned the appellation ‘Ezego’, meaning cash man.
The three were celebrated in their villages by their people as illustrious sons who brought succour to them with their wealth. Little did they know that behind that façade of magnanimity, may lie a heart seething with unimaginable evil.
Residents of Mgbidi probably started to review their impressions of the trio when in broad daylight government officials and heavily armed security men stormed the community and promptly demolished a hotel and five other buildings belonging to the suspected kidnappers.
The story of Nwosu and his alleged gang members is not different from that of many youths who flaunt their questionable wealth and worm their ways into the hearts of gullible villagers including traditional rulers and clergymen who reward them with chieftaincy titles and other honours.
The menace of kidnapping
By 2011, Imo State had an unenviable record of the kidnappers’ haven which forced investors and fun seekers away from the state. But the state government, apparently disturbed by the brazen manner people were kidnapped and sometimes murdered, swung into action and adopted stringent measures to curb the menace.
The prevalence of kidnapping is higher in Ohaji-Egbema, Oguta, Oru East, Oru West and Ngor-Okpala council areas.
According to police records, nearly all the major kidnap cases have been planned and executed from criminal hideouts located in aforementioned councils.
A police source attributed the high rate of kidnapping and other criminal activities in the area to the difficult terrain.
“Ohaji-Egbema, for instance, is surrounded by thick and impregnable forests, and criminal elements, especially kidnappers, take advantage of this, keeping their victims in the forests”.
The source added further that, “In most of the communities, the villagers aid and abet kidnapping by hiding information about kidnap suspects from security agents and also help them in keeping the victims until the ransom is paid”.
Within the last two years over 30 people have been reportedly kidnapped and either rescued or released after ransoms were paid. A few victims were murdered by the abductors, while a sizeable number of the suspected kidnappers were also arrested within the time under review.
Efforts to curb the menace
One of the major steps taken was to have the House of Assembly enact a law that empowers the government to demolish properties of established kidnappers or any other property used for the purpose of holding kidnap victims. Since the introduction of the demolition law, no fewer than 16 houses of confirmed kidnappers have been demolished by the state government.
According to a government official who didn’t want his name mentioned for obvious security reasons, “the idea of demolishing properties linked to suspected kidnappers is to ensure that nobody benefits from the proceeds of crime and more importantly to ensure that the suspected kidnappers are exposed and shamed before their kinsmen; this we hope will serve as a deterrent to others”.
The government source added further that, “our people value good name and will do everything to protect that, so if a kidnapper is arrested and his house is demolished, it will bring stigma on the name of the family and nobody wants that. This fact will force parents to be proactive in ensuring that they monitor the activities of their children, instead of gloating over their wealth without ascertaining the source”.
The government also in the bid to flush out kidnappers and other criminal elements from the villages, entered into collaboration with traditional rulers and created what was called the Black Book, which contains the names of suspected criminals in all the villages and their locations.
This was subsequently handed over to the security agents who acted on the credible intelligence and rid the communities of undesirable elements, even though there were fears that the Black Book may be turned into a tool of blackmail and witch hunt.
Another remarkable measure taken by the state government to check kidnapping and other heinous crimes is the prohibition of sales and consumption of illicit drugs in the state, including smoking of Indian hemp, cocaine, tramadol and other dangerous narcotics.
Consequently, a Taskforce on Illicit Drugs was inaugurated and headed by a female Lawyer, Ijeoma Igboanusi with a mandate to fish out and prosecute drug peddlers and users, as well as to demolish any house where drugs are sold.
The taskforce is also mandated to rehabilitate drug users who are yet to graduate into full blown criminal activity.
While inaugurating the taskforce, the Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, assured, saying, “we will fund this taskforce very well to be sure they lack nothing in the course of executing their job. We shall convert the Cultural Centre in Orlu as a rehabilitation Centre and the one in Okigwe shall be called the Drug Rehabilitation Centre”.
At the occasion, he lamented that, “the society is finished. One of the decisions we have taken is that once we discover a place they are selling the drug, we must bring down the house, no matter who owns the house. Once the landlord cannot control what people do in his house, that place must come down. If marijuana smoking stops, kidnapping, armed robbery will stop. Our traditional rulers know them and they are afraid of them in the villages. So they have become too powerful. And we must as a matter of urgency, address this issue of illicit drugs”.
Speaking on the activities of the Taskforce, the Commander noted that, “we have been working very hard to ensure that our youths keep away from drugs like Indian hemp, cocaine, tramadol and others and this in turn has led to a drastic reduction in criminal activities across the state because drugs addiction is the bedrock of all criminal activities”.
Meanwhile the state police command, noted that it has been able to drastically reduce the rate of kidnapping and armed robbery in the state by stirring the awareness of the members of the society through community policing initiated by the Police high command.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, a Superintendent of Police, stated further that, “through the Police strategy, members of the public have become aware that they have a role to play in the fight against kidnapping and other heinous crimes. We have been receiving credible intelligence from members of the public about those who are involved in kidnapping. So presently in Imo state Police Command, we are witnessing a downward trend in cases of kidnapping”.
Enwerem noted that the slow pace of prosecution of criminal cases by the judiciary has posed a major challenge to the fight against kidnapping and armed robbery, “if you go to Owerri prisons you will discover that majority of the kidnap and armed robbery cases charged to court are only awaiting trial for some over two to three years and this constitute over 70 percent of the inmates are awaiting trial, there is need for quick dispensation of justice. This was what led to the escape of Vampire after two years of awaiting trial.”