Last Friday, the Defence Headquarters lamented that the spate of kidnappings across the country has overshadowed the achievements of troops against terrorists in the Northern region.
The DHQ also disclosed that troops killed no fewer than 185 terrorists and arrested 212 within the last week.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Buba Edward disclosed this in a statement.
He said, “The ugly trend of kidnappings has dimmed the light on the successes of gallant troops in combating the terrorists, insurgents, and their cohorts across the country to create a safer environment for citizens.
“The military recognises the urgency for an immediate turnaround of the situation and is therefore actively working for peace and security across the country.
“It is worthy of mention to state that, achieving enduring peace in the country, requires that there is a change in the conditions that make the terrorists, insurgents, and their cohorts willing to fight and carry dastardly acts on fellow citizens.”
More than 380 persons were kidnapped between December 1, 2023, and January 3, 2024, across Nigeria.
According to data obtained from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a data bureau collecting data on the locations, dates, actors, fatalities, and types of all reported political violence and protest events worldwide, those abducted included men, women, farmers, children, and students.
The victims were taken hostage at various events that happened during the last month of 2023 and the first week of the New Year, illustrating the escalating number of kidnapping cases in the country.
Affected states include Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti, FCT, Kaduna, Kastina, Kogi, Lagos, Nassarawa, Ogun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara.
The residents of Abuja experienced an upsurge in kidnapping activities towards the end of 2023, and it continued into the New Year.
Residents of the Bwari area council in the Federal Capital Territory were most affected as three separate housing estates were attacked by kidnappers, and about 30 occupants were abducted within the period.
Around the same time, about seven people from the nearby Arab Road residential area in Kubwa town were kidnapped.
Since the start of 2024, many residents have reportedly been abducted in the FCT.
Five of the six sisters of the Al-Kadriyar family who were kidnapped by bandits in the Bwari area of Abuja regained their freedom on January 20, 2024.
The six sisters were abducted alongside their father.
The gunmen later released their father, asking him to go get N60 million as ransom for the release of her daughters before Friday, January 12.
In a bid to raise money, Nigerians were urged to donate whatever they had into a bank account, but not enough money was gathered.
“The experiences of kidnappings Nigeria has witnessed over the years have been torture to the soul of the nation and the people.”
The kidnappers killed four of the hostages, including Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, a 400-level student of Biological Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and 13-year-old Folashade Ariyo.
No fewer than six pupils, three teachers and the driver of a private school bus in Ekiti State were, on January 29, kidnapped by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.
They were abducted while returning from Eporo-Ekiti on the school bus.
The kidnappers shot at the bus and later whisked away nine persons comprising five students, three female teachers and a driver among the occupants of the bus.
Their kidnap came barely hours after two monarchs, the Onimojo of Imojo in Oye Local Government Area, Oba Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin were killed by gunmen along Ipao-Oke Ako Road while their colleague, the Alara of Ara Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba in Ikole Local Government Area, managed to escape.
Abductors of the school children later contacted the families of their victims, demanding N30 million as ransom to release the five pupils and other victims.
The abductees were released in the early hours of Sunday.
All victims were rescued at about 1.30am on Sunday, but unfortunately, the driver was killed by the abductors.
The menace that kidnapping has pulled off in Nigeria is monstrous.
In recent years, Nigeria has seen a sharp leap in kidnappings. This has resulted in Nigerians paying billions of naira in ransom to secure the release of their loved ones at the hands of kidnappers.
The rate of insecurity in the country, coupled with the hassle families and the loved ones of kidnap victims go through, is on the high.
The dent that this anomaly has caused on victims, homes, families, states, and the country itself is a recurring hardship.
The effect of kidnapping on security in Nigeria comes in different layers, such as violence, an increased number of deaths, intimidation, aggression, and a hike in the crime rate. Kidnapping is an illegal act of unlawfully seizing a person against their own will to gain profit from their families.
At the same time, kidnapping isn’t only streamlined to getting money in return. Instead, there are other intents to kidnapping in Nigeria, which are for sexual assault, rituals, religious and political reasons.
For whatever reason, people are being held hostage, and it has caused a ripple effect on the state of health and security in Nigeria.
The state of the government’s response to the rate of insecurity in Nigeria has stirred up a lot of controversy among many people across different regions.
At some point, the government stated that ransom shouldn’t be paid to kidnappers anymore after realizing that the inflow of these enormous amounts of money as ransom to kidnappers kept spreading the reach of kidnapping across the nation.
However, the government hasn’t done a complete job by effectively enacting this law. One of the loopholes seen in the Nigerian government’s response to this menace is by not approaching this issue proactively.
One of the significant proofs of this lack of proactive action is that the government has only learned how to attack kidnappings with armed forces after a kidnapping has taken place.
Also, state and regional armed forces have not been engaged enough to curb inter-state conflict. This ineffectiveness has been the narrative repeatedly without any noticeable change or turnaround.
The Federal Government should establish a more effective law to attack kidnapping from its roots, ranging from the rate of unemployment to the level of corruption that has evaded the country.
The experiences of kidnappings Nigeria has witnessed over the years have been torture to the soul of the nation and the people. However, there can be interventions that will salvage the situation and bring the nation to a state of peace and tranquility as it should be. The Federal Government should act more proactively and put in proper administration to ensure that all regions of the country are well catered for as regards security.
