Edo under kidnappers’ siege ...But Oshiomhole says, we’ll combat menace

By SUNDAY ANI

Like a wild harmattan fire, what started as the abduction of foreign oil workers in the Niger Delta region, by militants to drive home their agitation against environmental pollution and degradation resulting from oil exploration activities, has today become a big monster that is ravaging every section of Nigeria.

What started as a tool of agitation in the hands of the militant youths in the Niger Delta has    become a lucrative business venture for the teeming unemployed graduates in Nigeria. In the beginning, the target was mainly foreigners, especially Europeans and Asians. But today, the focus has shifted to Nigerians who are considered to be rich or those have any kind of affiliation with the wealthy or the government. From east to west; north to south, the story is the same. It has assumed a frightening dimension that nobody is safe. Their victims cut across all ages, ranging from children of even less than one year, to people as old as 90 years and above. It has no sex barrier.

Recently, Edo State, South-South Nigeria, seems to have become a safe haven for the people in this illicit business. The state has been in the news for quite some time now over the ugly development. The roughnecks seem to have congregated in the ancient empire and its environs where they unleash mayhem on the inhabitants as well as visitors and passersby.

Nigerians were taken aback when on Friday, August 23, human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Mike Ozehome (SAN), was abducted by kidnappers.

But just as jubilation was on air over the release of Chief Ozekhome after about two weeks in the gulag, Nigerians were again jolted by the abduction of an Edo monarch, the Iyase of Udo in Ovia Southwest Local Government of Edo State, HRH Patrick Igbinidu. The kidnap of the traditional ruler on the same day that Chief Ozekhome was released, has confirmed the fears in some quarters that Edo State has become a safe haven for kidnappers.

Recall that Chief Ozekhome, along with his driver, was abducted along Benin-Auchi road on August 23, at about 3:30pm. Four police officers were said to have lost their lives when a team of policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ehor Division, tried to foil his abduction.

Briefing journalists on Saturday, August 24, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Folorunsho Adebanjo said: “Operatives of the command led by the DPO, Ehor Division, responded swiftly to a distress call at 3:30pm, that unspecified number of armed men had blocked the Benin-Auchi Road by Ehor axis.

“However, the patrol vehicle ran into the ambush laid by the hoodlums, prompting an exchange of gunfire. At the end of the gun duel, the hoodlums escaped with bullet wounds but not without their victim, who was later identified upon search on his abandoned vehicle as Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and his driver.

“Regrettably, the command lost four officers in the encounter. We salute their rare courage and bravery for they fought and died as heroes for the cause of humanity. Their deaths shall not be in vain. We remain undeterred in our fight against armed banditry.”

But, barely two weeks after the police authorities made that vow, ostensibly because of the officers that were wasted by the dare-devil kidnappers; they struck again, kidnapping a traditional ruler of Udo Kingdom.

Chief Igbinidu, who is an in-law to the Oba of Benin, was said to have been abducted in his kingdom. He was reported to have been whisked away in an Audi car at about 7pm by a four-man gang, while playing draft with his friends somewhere very close to his palace.

On September 12, it was reported in the media that over 250 people were in prison custody and another 100 persons in police net awaiting trial for kidnapping in Edo State as revealed by the governor, Adams Oshiomhole.

The report further said the state governor; Comrade Oshiomhole made the startling revelation, when he paid a condolence visit to Elder Tes Soare, Chief Executive Officer of Tomline Enterprises, who was kidnapped but just regained freedom then. The governor was also quoted to have said that the state government was re-strategising and putting measures in place to tackle the incidents of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the state.

On February 5, a 35-year-old physically challenged barber, Obehi Emienor from Ekpon Community, Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State kidnapped his own mother, Kate Emienor. He demanded for N20m ransom from his elder brother before he could release the woman. He was alleged to have lured his mother into the trap when he asked her to bring some foodstuff for him from the village. He was also said to have waited at Agbor from where he took the woman into hiding. In his confessional statement, he allegedly admitted to the crime but claimed he wanted to test his brother living overseas, who has neglected them for so long, with promises of taking them abroad.

On Friday, May 10, 2012, gunmen abducted the wife, daughter and driver of a Supreme Court Justice, Bode Rhodes-Vivour. Mrs Vivour was reported to be travelling to Edo State ahead of her daughter’s wedding when the ugly incident occurred. They were kidnapped between Ekiadolor and Okada along Ore-Benin Expressway. When the kidnappers established contact with the family, a ransom of N300 million was demanded.

As the dust generated by the kidnap of Justice Vivour’s family was still settling down, three female primary school teachers were again in July abducted in Benin-City. The teachers from Edo State - Mrs Patience Osadolor, Momodu Aisha and Mrs Patience Oroghene were reportedly seized right inside the school premises, Orohgbua Primary School, Ekhehuan. The gunmen stormed the school during the school hours and shot sporadically into the air before seizing their targets. It was reported that an unnamed parent who was at the school to check his kid was hit by a stray bullet. The abductors, who demanded for N60million ransom, released the female teachers two weeks later, after a ransom of N7.5m was allegedly paid.

People were still wondering how the poor primary school teachers suddenly became targets of kidnappers in Edo State, when the criminals turned their searchlight on health workers. It was reported that just as the management of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Benin, was celebrating the release of one of its doctors, Dr Edward Osahogie who had earlier been kidnapped, news crept in that a pharmacist in the hospital had also been kidnapped.

As the news of the kidnap of the pharmacist was still fresh, kidnappers also attempted to abduct a local government council vice chairman.

It was reported that the vice chairman of Uhunmwode Local Government Area of the state, Hon Walter Aiwekho, regained his freedom after he was abducted at Ogan, near Abudu, on his way to work at Ehor, the administrative headquarters of the local government council. He was alleged to have escaped from his abductors after the car in which he was being taken away had an accident at Obiaruku in Delta State.

A recent report by ASI Global Response on Kidnapping shows that victims are mainly businessmen and women, politicians or their family members. At a summit held in Lagos last year, the Regional Vice President, Africa-America Society for Industrial Security, Mr Dennis Amachree disclosed that out of the top 10 countries with high kidnapping records in 2007, Nigeria occupied the sixth position. He regretted that Nigeria has since 2007 moved up to the third position, behind Mexico and Columbia.

The worrisome aspect of this ugly development is that young, smart and intelligent graduates are daily recruited into the dangerous world of crime by the growing unemployment in the country as well as the perceived returns in the growing business.

Kidnapping is a dangerous plague that currently afflicts every state in the country. But it seems Edo State is fast taking the lead. Nigerians are calling on the security agencies to do more in stopping the dangerous activities of kidnappers around the country, particularly in Edo State.