It was a case of a kidnapping plot taken to the extreme. And as would be expected, not many believed the news when it first broke. The police in Rivers State arrested a woman for allegedly kidnapping her own children and demanding a ransom from her husband for their safe return.
According to the report, the woman, identified as Abigail Brown, allegedly connived with her husband’s former driver, identified only as ThankGod, to abduct the two children and demanded a ransom from her estranged husband. The suspect allegedly demanded N6 million from her husband to secure the release of his children.
Brown abducted the kids, aged two and 10, and kept them at her sister’s house while she awaited the ransom to be delivered. Brown later told the police that her action was not intentional, and that she decided on the plot in order to get money from her husband, who she claimed had abandoned her and the children.
Since the phenomenon of kidnapping for ransom started in the country, it has grown to a frightening level, creating a crooked avenue for criminally-minded persons to extort money from others. So bad is the situation now that spouses and neighbours view one another with suspicion, not sure who might connive with criminal elements to stage a kidnap.
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transporting of a person against the person’s will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment or confinement without legal authority. This may be done for ransom or in furtherance of another crime, or in connection with a child custody dispute. When it is done without legal authority, it is often called arrest or imprisonment.
In 2013, a woman was arrested by the police in Enugu State after she allegedly faked her own kidnap to demand a ransom from her husband. The woman, Nancy Chukwu, a housewife and trader, conspired with a man to stage her abduction in Enugu and went on to ask for N200, 000 as ransom.
She reportedly gave her husband’s phone number to her accomplice, said to be a commercial motorcyclist, who later called her husband, pretending to be a kidnapper and demanded that the money be paid into an account if he wanted to see his wife again. The woman was said to have hidden herself with the man. However, the bubble burst when the husband approached the police who eventually traced the bank account to a friend of the motorcyclist.
A Lagos couple learnt the hard way how not to trust a maid. The story of Mary Akinloye, a house help who kidnapped three kids in the Surulere area of Lagos State and demanded N15 million from her employers for the release of their children, shocked many.
Akinloye, a 23-year-old indigene of Ibadan, Oyo State, was said to have been hired through an online trading portal, OLX. Reports say the parents of the children posted a notice on the online sales portal requesting the services of a nanny. Akinloye then offered her services and gave the parents the phone numbers of two individuals she claimed were her relatives. The family agreed to formalise documentation with the purported relatives and went ahead to employ the nanny.
Barely one day after she resumed work, the 23-year-old house help bolted with the three children, aged between 11 months and six years, away while their parents were at work.
No longer a ritual matter alone
Before now, kidnappings were linked to ritual purposes. In a country where most people are very traditional, it was once believed that victims of kidnapping were used for money-making rituals by people seeking quick and easy way to wealth. But all that is now in the past. Like other aspects of our social life, kidnapping has also taken a new form and face.
The history of kidnapping in modern day Nigeria can be traced to the activities of militant groups in the Niger Delta. About a decade ago, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) resorted to taking foreign employees of oil companies in the Niger Delta hostage in exchange for ransom.
According to reports, more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped since 2006. Most of the hostages were, however, released unharmed by their abductors. But the days when only foreign oil companies’ workers were targets are over. Now, everybody is a potential victim, especially those who are wealthy or have wealthy relations. While it is difficult to put an exact figure to the number of kidnapping cases in Nigeria, a recent unofficial report put the annual figure in at well over 1,000. Like never before, Nigeria is now prominently ranked globally among countries where kidnapping is rampant. On the list of countries with rampant cases of kidnapping are Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Venezuela, Mexico, Haiti, Russia, Ecuador, Brazil, Philippines and Colombia.
Ironically, when kidnapping for ransom started, it was largely restricted to the South-East and South-South parts of the country where kidnapping syndicates made life a hell for the residents of the areas.
Twist to ugly trend
But whether it is for ransom or ritual purposes, there have been reported cases of people stage-managing their own kidnappings in connivance with supposed kidnappers and later share the ransom after it had been paid by their family.
The ugly trend has, however, spread to other parts of the country, becoming a fad among criminals in areas where the crime was hitherto unknown. Today, neighbours no longer trust one another and have to constantly look over their shoulders in the day or at night. From Rivers to Kaduna, Ogun to Ondo and Enugu to Kogi states, the cry is, who will save us from kidnappers? In many parts of the country today, a simple exercise as taking a stroll in broad daylight could end someone up in kidnappers’ den.
Findings by The Nation revealed that while high profile cases get huge media attention, a lot of kidnapping incidents are resolved without publicity. Many kidnapping victims prefer to pay the ransom and move on with their lives.
For former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Olu Falae, what ought to be a day of joy and merry-making turned into a day of misery as he was kidnapped by suspected herdsmen on his 77th birthday.
Falae, who is also a chieftain and leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, was abducted on his farm in Ilado, along Igbatoro Road, Akure, capital of Ondo State.
His abduction did not only throw the entire South West region into a frenzy as the people tried to make meaning of the motive of those behind the dastardly act, it also threw Federal Government functionaries and the Police into panic, considering the status of the old man among the Yoruba and the tribe of his abductors.
But the tension was temporarily defused when words leaked that the abductors had contacted the Falae family and demanded a ransom of N100 million.
The Director of Administration and Publicity Secretary of the SDP in the state, Mr. Remi Olayiwola, broke the news to journalists. The septuagenarian, who was a minister of finance in the administration of former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), and later became the presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999, was allegedly attacked before he was whisked away. It was also gathered that some of his workers on the farm were attacked by the suspected herdsmen.
According to reports, Falae’s abductors released him after an undisclosed amount of money was paid into an account they supplied to the family. The old man spent four traumatic days with the evil men in the bush before his release was secured. But five of them were later arrested by operatives of the Intelligence Response Squad (IRS), an elite unit of the Nigeria Police deployed by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to track and apprehend the masterminds of the kidnapping.
The leader of the gang, one Abubakar Auta, was found with the sum of N823, 900, part of the ransom paid by Falae’s family. He identified two of the suspected kidnappers, Umoru Ibrahim and Idris Lawan, as those who spent four days with him in the bush. He explained that Ibrahim threatened to shoot him during his ordeal, while Lawan always shouted at him not to look at the kidnappers in the face.
Another high profile victim of kidnapping in the country was one-time senator and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Mrs. Iyabo Anisulowo. Senator Anisulowo, who represented Ogun West Senatorial District between 2003 and 2000. She was kidnapped alongside her security aide in Igbogila area of Ogun State.
Speaking about her ordeal after she was rescued, Anisulowo, who spent seven days in the kidnappers’ den, said she went through excruciating and unexpected pains in the hands of her abductors, who she said wanted a ransom of N100 million.
She said the gang had their plans well laid out as they moved from one camp to another inside the forest. “The kingpin said if I didn’t have, I had influence and I should be able to raise the money through people who would not want me to die,” Anisulowo said after she regained her freedom.
The Kaduna State Police Command recently smashed a notorious kidnapping syndicate operating in the state. The police team set up by the Inspector General of Police to tackle the menace of kidnapping in the country, the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Response Team, arrested six members of the syndicate.
According to the police, the gang, comprising Kashimu Shehu a.k.a. Baliago; Aliyu Mato a.k.a. Yellow; Muhammedu Mamman; Hassan Bello; Bala Mohammed and Ishiaku Kabiru, was responsible for the abduction of Rev. Yakubu Dzarma, Rev. Emmanuel Dziggan and Rev. Illiya Anthony at Dutse village in March.
Perhaps, one kidnapping that confounded Nigerians was the abduction of Chief Inengite Nitabai, the foster father and uncle of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The old man has been kidnapped twice. He was first kidnapped when Jonathan was still the president.
Interestingly, Chief Nitabai’s kidnap was made possible despite him having about four security details whose duty it was to keep watch over the septuagenarian. His abductors were said to have demanded a ransom of N30 million for his release.
But not all victims of kidnapping live to tell their story. While the former president’s uncle, Chief Nitabai, was lucky to come back home alive, a younger man and cousin to the former president, Samuel Oki, was not that fortunate. He was killed by the kidnappers and his body was dumped inside the Otuoke river.
Many other victims have been killed by their abductors even after the ransom demanded had been paid by their families. A gang of kidnappers in Delta State killed and buried the victim, one Isaac Dittimiya, a senior lecturer of the College of Education, Warri. The wicked gang killed their victim after collecting a ransom from his family.
For kidnappers, what is important is the possibility of making money. No emotions or a target’s contribution to nation-building or seeming patriotic zeal are enough to spare him or her.
That was the case when the mother of the head coach of Nigeria’s U-23 football team, Samson Siasia, was kidnapped.
According to reports, gunmen stormed the family residence of the Siasias at Odoni community of Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and forcibly whisked away his mother on a motorcycle. The abduction, which happened at a time Siasia was on a national assignment trying to qualify his team for the Rio Olympics, left many sport-loving Nigerians disappointed.
Speaking about the abduction at the time, a distraught Siasia said: “What do they expect from me? I don’t have money. I am right now on national duty and need all the time to concentrate on this very important national task. So, I beg them to please release my mother so that I can concentrate on this task of qualifying the U-23 national team for the men’s football event of the Rio Olympics.”
The 72-year-old Mrs. Beauty Siasia was later released by her abductors who were said to have dumped her along the East-West Road, where she was picked up by men of the Bayelsa State Police Command after a 12-day ordeal in the den of the kidnappers.
Before the Siasias’ experience, the father of Nigerian footballer, John Obi Mikel, was abducted on his way to work. The kidnappers demanded a huge ransom from the family, but the gang was bust before the ransom could be delivered to them. After their arrest, serving soldiers were found to be among the kidnappers.
Why kidnapping is on the rise
Different reasons have been advanced for the rise in cases of kidnapping in the country. Chief among the reasons is the economic situation which has left many with employable skills without jobs. Some people also blame the scourge on the widening gap between the rich and the poor.
“The average youth has difficulties getting legitimate means of earning a decent living. Lots of unemployed youths have taken up kidnapping as a profession since they see it as a money-generating tool,” said a man who pleaded anonymity.
Experts have also blamed unemployment in the country as one the major reasons why many Nigerian youths picked kidnapping as avenue to generate money with which they hope to establish themselves in the society.
Aside from unemployment, poverty is another major reason found to have contributed to the rise in cases of kidnapping. Findings revealed that it is easier to convince a poor man to take to a life of criminal in order to make life better for himself and his family.
However, while all these factors are undeniably responsible for many cases of kidnapping in the country, it can also be confirmed that many have taken to the dastardly crime because of their resolve to make money by crook or hook. Such people, according to findings, would do anything, including kidnapping for rituals or ransom.
Stories also abound of young men who allegedly prefer to be rich and live flamboyant lifestyle for one day and die the next day. For such people, money is everything that matters in life.
However, the belief among the people is that the government needs to do more to put an end to kidnapping in the country. The government, it is argued, must provide equipment like tracking machines and cameras to enable the security agencies track kidnappers and other criminals easily.
That was the case in a recent incident in which a woman stole a baby in Lagos. The woman, 42-year-old Zainab Salisu, kidnapped a baby from her mother in the Abule Egba area of Lagos State. The baby, Fehintola, was taken away from the mother by the suspect.
For two weeks, the police, aided by a CCTv picture of the suspect, went to work and found her in her hideout. The role played by the CCTv in the rescue of the baby and the arrest of the suspect cannot be overestimated. It made the job of the police easy, since they had a picture of who they were looking for.
In a recent report by the Voice of America (VOA), it was established that kidnapping has grown from an activity restricted to Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta to a common occurrence across the country, adding that kidnappers no longer target the rich alone.
In his advice to Nigerians, the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, urged people to desist from paying ransoms to kidnappers. The IG said Nigerians should provide adequate information to the police to enable them do their jobs.
The police, in collaboration with the British High Commission, recently organised a five-day counter-kidnap seminar. Instructors at the seminar were drawn from the United Kingdom Anti-kidnapping Agency and the Swiss Crisis Management Unit.
The police boss also appealed to Nigerians to support the Nigeria Police Force by providing useful information that can help in unmasking the criminal elements in the country.
