by Tony Edike

…Wealthy Igbos go on ‘exile’

Enugu-THE South Eastern States of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo have been under the siege of kidnappers who have in the last one year made  life unbearable for the residents especially the wealthy and foreign nationals.

The vicious syndicates which have various detention camps in different states across the region kidnap human beings principally to extract ransom from their helpless relatives.  Sometimes, they rake in millions of naira from their wealthy victims and hundreds of thousands from the middle class.

Police authorities in the zone revealed recently that the business has become so bad that people are now kidnapped for as low as N20, 000.  But the irony of this illicit business is the fact that no victim had been released without his or her relation coughing out something.

In some cases even when a ransom is paid, the kidnappers or their negotiators would continue to make more demands failing which they would threaten to kill the captive.

This illicit trade, which began in the troubled oil-rich region of Niger Delta since 2006, was first experienced in the South East geopolitical zone at the industrial town of Nnewi, Anambra State where two Chinese nationals attached to a private auto manufacturing firm were taken hostage on March 17, 2007.  While one of them was released after the industrialists reportedly paid some ransom, the other victim is still missing till date and he is believed to have been killed by his abductors.

The police fingered the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) as perpetrators of the kidnap, but unknown to all, the unholy practice was becoming a  more lucrative business than buying and selling for which Ndigbo are noted.

Since that first incident, cases of kidnapping became rampant in the South Eastern States.   While the people of the region are highly disturbed, the law enforcement agencies especially the police, appear to have lost out in the battle against the criminal act.

The Police in Enugu State has however taken up the gauntlet and recorded successes by bursting three major kidnap cases involving a medical practitioner, Dr. Francis Edemobi, who is the younger brother of the Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili; the wife of Enugu South Local Government boss, Sam Ngene and the latest involving a manager of a new generation commercial bank.

Also in Anambra State, the new Commissioner of Police Amusa Bello swung into action immediately he assumed duties by rounding up no fewer than 150 suspected kidnappers in and around the commercial city of Onitsha.  Aside these, there has been no meaningful record of breakthrough by the police in the crackdown against kidnappers, who are operating freely within states of the zone.

Even when some of their detention camps are revealed by the victims or informants, the police in most cases exhibit reluctance to raid such hideouts under the guise that such information provided were not enough to be relied upon.  The most worrisome aspect is when the police advice the victims’ relations to cooperate with the kidnappers by paying the demanded ransom while they play along with a view to ascertaining their identity.

Although the advice is usually heeded by those who can afford the amount demanded, the security operatives hardly get at the culprits because of what many viewed as lack of intelligence on the part of the security men. In some cases, some people have had the cause to accuse the police of aiding and abetting the kidnap gangs with whom they share ransoms paid by the victims.

Only recently a coalition of human right groups including the Catholic Commission for Justice Development and Peace in Nsukka, the host town of University of Nigeria in Enugu State, raised an alarm over the incessant kidnapping of the residents and visitors including adults and children by unknown gangs of kidnappers, whom they alleged enjoy the backing of the police in the town. Hundreds of Nsukka residents, who staged a mass protest over high crime wave in the town, said the police in Nsukka urban division have continued to watch innocent people being kidnapped without any challenge or resistance..

They claimed that before the deployment to Nsukka urban division of the then  Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Mr. Ike Mba, “cases of organized crimes such as car robbery, kidnap etc were insignificantly minimal in terms of number and were seldom heard of but with his arrival, there have been a sudden and highly suspicious revival in these crime sectors in the area.  In the average, more than 50 vehicles have been successfully snatched at gun points inside the town from their owners by robbers without the slightest resistance whatsoever by the police.”

“In terms of statistics of kidnap cases and the frequency of its occurrence, Nsukka may well compete with the Niger Delta States of Nigeria.  There is no day that passes without a kidnap saga told in one corner of the town.  With the growing awareness and apprehension by the populace that a senior police officer must be a stakeholder in the on-going kidnapping/hostage taking business in Nsukka, it became a habit of every victim not to report their ordeals in the hand of kidnappers to the police for fear of a betrayal by the police,” the right groups made up of Catholic Priests, stated in a petition sent to Governor Sullivan Chime on the development.

Although, the state police command dismissed allegation of wrongdoing against the DPO and his men, Nsukka which was once regarded as the most peaceful town in Enugu State, has known no peace in recent times.  In what observers saw as “a battle of survival” by the police, the DPO arrested a catholic priest and handed him over to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Enugu a fortnight ago for alleged kidnapping.  The police officer had in a publication blamed the increasing crime wave in the area on the victims and residents who he said always choose to conceal information from the police especially when it involves kidnapping.

“This has happened in the past and it is still happening.  I do not know why a kidnap victim and his/her relations would choose to start negotiating with kidnappers rather than informing the police,” said Mba. He added that in Nsukka there had been instances where somebody would be kidnapped and the relations would refuse to tell the police and even when they do so, they would be so economical with facts that could aid intelligent officers to get at the culprits.  “This is the main reason why we still have cases of kidnap in Nsukka,” the DPO told a local newspaper in Nsukka before his re~deployment a fortnight ago.

Prominent indigenes and businessmen in the academic town had been kidnapped in recent times and were released after heavy ransoms were paid to the kidnappers said to have a strong network within Enugu, Anambra and Delta States. One Chief Silas Ifeanyi alias Baba Edem, an Asaba-based businessman was abducted in Nsukka in April but the kidnappers called his wife at Asaba who reportedly paid N3 million to them somewhere at Onitsha before he was released. Several businessmen from the area have suffered the same fate in the hands of the kidnappers who have laid siege on the town.

There have been cases of  kidnapping in other parts of Enugu State but their activities within the State capital had been curtailed by a crack team of police officers that enjoys the backing of the State Government.  It was this team that successfully raided the hideouts of the gangs that kidnapped the wife of the Enugu South council boss and the bank manager at Ezeagu and Ngada Umuelem village, Isuochi community in Umuneochi Local government Area of Abia State respectively.

Police sources attributed the success of the team to the cooperation of a GSM service provider which normally help in releasing call details between kidnappers and relatives of their victims even though with some unnecessary delays caused by bureaucracy.  “The call details help the crack team to determine where the kidnappers originate their calls to demand for ransom and the moment this is done, the team moves in and this has helped them in unravelling some cases in the past.  But the major problem is that the GSM service providers here will not release the call details until they get clearance from their head offices in Lagos and this delays operation. They should be in a position to give out these details to security agents to enable us track down these enemies promptly,” a security chief told Crime Guard.

In Ebonyi State kidnap cases are reported regularly and the victims are released after ransoms are paid.  Miffed by the increasing rate of kidnapping in the state, a human right group, the United Action against Corruption and Injustice International (UAACII) recently  warned that if nothing was done by both the federal and  state governments, it might snowball to something higher than what obtains in the Niger Delta region. Director General of the group, Comrade Law Okeke advised the Federal Government to brace up to the challenge, noting that the people in the five states of the zone now live in fear “of the unknown”.

According to the group, kidnapping for ransom has turned out to be very lucrative enterprise in the south east, stressing that unlike when it started when the kidnappers were mainly concerned with expatriates; the act has now shifted to both citizens and aliens.

“Although, this menace was formally greater and well experienced in the Niger Delta where militants abduct oil workers, now it has become more pronounced in the south east states. There is hardly any week that passes without one or more persons being kidnapped,” laments the group.  In the same vein, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in the state revealed that in Ebonyi state alone, over ten cases of kidnapping were recorded in recent times.  There is fear among the residents of the state as nobody knows the next victim.

Imo State has also had a share of the activities of these ungodly men who have thrown the residents and even visitors into perpetual fear.  Apart from foreign oil workers kidnapped around the oil producing area of the state, some businessmen had fallen victims in recent times.  For instance, the wife of a transport magnate, Frank Nneji, who owns ABC Transport, was kidnapped on her way to the church within Owerri metropolis and she was released after an undisclosed ransom was reportedly paid by her spouse.

Earlier in the year, the 73 years aged mother of the Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Ernest Ebi was picked from her compound at Akokwa area of Imo State by a gang of kidnappers who stormed their country-home in two unmarked vehicles.

They later called her family and demanded N400 million ransom, but sources said the request was turned down.  But after spending nearly a month in their hands, an undisclosed amount was paid but they continued to demand more knowing that his son works with the CBN.  However, sources said when her family refused to comply, they released her days later.

The most notorious gangs in this illicit business are said to be resident in Abia State. From several revelations by the victims of kidnap in the South East, most of them were taken to thick forests within Ngwa land from where the kidnappers initiate calls to their relations.  The South East zonal police command (Zone 9) is located in Umuahia and investigations revealed that kidnapping has dominated their crime diary these days.  Businessmen and their children in Abia State are kidnapped almost on daily basis only to regain their freedom after extorting millions of naira from them.

Precisely, the commercial city of Aba ranks highest in the level of criminality in the state and the poor security in the city has seriously slowed down business activities while the state government is said to have done nothing meaningful to check the activities of criminals in the area.

Only a few weeks ago the former Deputy Governor of Abia State and a member of the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, narrowly escaped being kidnapped by armed men but his police orderly was not lucky as he was shot dead in the attack.  Police said investigations into the matter were in progress but nothing has been heard of the matter weeks after it was reported. Senator Abaribe who represents Abia South Senatorial zone, was retuning from an overnight function in Port Harcourt when the suspected kidnappers ambushed his convoy and opened fire as he approached them.  He said this prompted the police orderly to respond by shooting at the assailants.

Although the police orderly succeeded in killing one of the kidnappers in the cross fire, he (the orderly) was hit by gunshots from the attackers and later died.  “If the policeman did not return fire, I would have been a dead man. The returned fire also made them retreat and they (kidnappers) later encountered the anti-terrorist police who exchanged fire with them. They abandoned their car and a kidnap victim, a lecturer at Abia Polytechnic found in the booth of the car. The police are to be commended; otherwise, I would have been kidnapped or otherwise killed,” said the senator.

The ordeal of Abaribe in the hands  of the kidnappers is said to be one of the sad testimonies of the grim security situation in Abia State since the past three years.   The two main cities in the state, Aba and Umuahia, the state capital, are notorious for criminal activities with major violent crimes occurring daily. The common crimes in the state, according to police sources, are kidnapping, armed robbery, baby trafficking, car snatching and ritual killing.

Apart from Aba and Umuahia, rural areas like Ikwuano, Umunneochi, Isiala Ngwa North and South as well as Ugwunagbo have been identified as black spots for high level crimes. Guard Crime learnt that a good number of robbery and other criminal activities, especially kidnapping recorded in the state in recent times, occurred mainly in the rural communities of Isiala Ngwa and Ugwunagbo.

Piqued by the deteriorating security situation in the state, some professionals in the commercial city including legal practitioners had complained bitterly and went ahead to issue the government an ultimatum to improve on the security of the state. They claimed that 11 of their members had fallen victims of kidnapping and that the environment was no longer safe to do business. The lawyers attracted the sympathy of the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), their umbrella organization, which visited Aba and Umuahia to complain about the insecurity in the state.

What is, however, disturbing to many in the case of Abia State is the inability or reluctance by security agencies to raid the identified hideouts of the kidnappers.  A top police chief told Crime Guard that even when intelligence reports had pointed out those locations within the state where the kidnap gangs have their operational base and detention camps, nothing meaningful has been done at least to raid such locations thus raising serious questions regarding the seriousness of security agents to tackle the menace.

The same problem has also been identified in Anambra State where Nsugbe and its environs had been identified as the major hideouts of the kidnappers.  From the testimonies of some victims released after ransoms were paid on them, they are usually masked and driven from the detention camp somewhere within Nsugbe and dropped somewhere around 33 Area on the Onitsha – Nsugbe highway.  Crime Guard learnt this clue had been with the police but no serious effort had been made to locate the detention camps until the arrival of the present Commissioner of Police.

In that state, wealthy businessmen like Chief Pius Ogbuawa was kidnapped in Nnewi sometime ago by an unidentified group and was released after a ransom was paid. The Anambra State commissioner of police at the time, John Haruna blamed the kidnapping on some youths in the state who he said had learnt from what is happening in the Niger Delta region. “They’ve seen what the boys in the Niger Delta are doing and they are copying from them,” said the then police commissioner, who seriously mobilized his men against the menace of kidnappers but could not get to their roots.

Apart from the industrial town of  Nnewi, Awka, the Anambra State Capital had been under siege of violent kidnappers for sometime now.  Both the Awka indigenes and non-indigene settlers have fallen victims to these merciless set of Nigerians who have lately made kidnapping a money-spinning profession.

The spate of kidnapping in the capital city has become so disturbing to the extent that fear and panic have gripped the residents, according to reports.  While some people have packed their bags and left the state for safety, some indigenes of Awka who live in other towns including the abroad, have vowed not to return home until the security of their home state is guaranteed.

heir fears were exacerbated by two major high profile kidnap pings that took place in Awka not too long ago. The first victim is the younger brother of Chief Austin Ndigwe, a politician cum businessman popularly known by his traditional title, Uzu Awka.  His brother was picked by the gunmen and released days after but not until the Ndigwe family had parted with an undisclosed sum of money.

Shortly after that, the kidnappers abducted the President-General of Awka Town Union, Chukwuemeka Nwogbo, who operates a real estate firm in Abuja.  In his case described as a high-profile kidnapping, he was taken from his family compound in Awka. Just like in other cases, he was released after his family coughed out some money to these evil men.

A major bloody incident likened to the hit style of these enemies within was witnessed in the same state capital on May 26, this year, when the Chairman, Association of ex-council Chairmen of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State, Chief Chukwudi Okafor, was killed in his home town Umuawulu, Awka South local government. He was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Umuawulu some metres away from his house while trying to run away from the gang that had laid ambush for him in his premises.

However, in most of all these cases, the police in Anambra have so far made no breakthrough.
It is a common knowledge in the South Eastern states that the activities of kidnappers is spreading like wild fire across the five states and  the consequences on the economy of these Igbo-speaking states is alarming.   Many have suffered serious damages on account of this illicit trade which is generally regarded globally as a major crime against humanity.

No doubt, kidnapping has spread at faster paces than in the Niger Delta region where the business of kidnapping originated and was actually exploited as a veritable means of  drawing the attention of the federal government and the international community to the neglect and deprivation being suffered by the oil producing communities.

Ironically, the reason for the indulgence in the act by Ndigbo is unexplainable.  Although many view the trade as  money-spinning, those behind it either as operatives, negotiators, informants or sponsors, appeared to have thrown the value of human life into the dustbin as all they are interested in is to rake in money,  no matter how.  They have also danced to the tune of those Nigerians from other ethnic groups who had in the past accused the Igbo race of capable of doing anything for money.

The governments of the South East are indeed disturbed about the high insecurity within the region and had taken steps to tackle the issue. Reporters had on several occasions, particularly during the Conferences of the South East Governors in Enugu, put the governors to task as to the practical steps they are taken to nip this cankerworm in the bud.  Although they appear helpless, most of the State Governors have initiated bills to their state Houses of Assembly for the enactment of a law that would make kidnapping a capital offence that would attract severe penalty.  While some have already enacted the law, others are still awaiting passage.  Anambra and Enugu States have already enacted theirs which prescribed death and life jail respectively for anybody found guilty of kidnapping but this has not really served as enough deterrent.

Some Igbo leaders have continued to express concern over the ugly development while suggesting measures to tackle the menace.  Presently, any eminent personality seen either in his porch car or jeep goes with either a policeman or a soldier.  Some wealthy ones even hire about five security men to escort their convoy of cars.  Only very few courageous people can drive to their communities alone without a security escort.

Those who have tried it lately especially within Abia, Imo and Anambra had gory tales to tell.  The situation is that bad and the pressure on security agencies in the region had become weighty.  But while the rich and their families are being guarded by security operatives paid through tax-payers money, the poor masses are left under the care of God and at the mercies of the miscreants and men of the underworld who have so enriched themselves through proceeds from their illicit trades.

One of the Igbo personalities that have repeatedly spoken against this evil, unlike others that have adopted the “let’s us learn to live with it approach”, is the former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu. He has continued to warn that the economies of the South East and South – South would be ruined if the menace of kidnapping was not urgently checked.

He said kidnapping would plunge the economy of the zones into coma as the heinous crime was potentially driving away prized investors, stressing that fighting kidnapping was a war the governors of both zones could ill afford to lose.  While advising the governors to come together and forge a common strategy to wipe out the menace, Kalu believes that the creation of a special intervention force to curb widespread kidnapping in the two zones would restore peace to the already traumatized and frightened people of these regions.

Most importantly, Kalu advocated creation of a Police Special Intervention Force dedicated to routing kidnapping and its perpetrators. “Governors and security operatives should fight the menace. I will suggest that there be a special intervention force, and with the cooperation of the youths, kidnapping will be curbed,” the politician told reporters recently.

According to him, a state police which chief would be elected by the  people, would be best suited to fight the crime of kidnapping as state chief executives currently lack powers to control police commissioners at the state commands. The Igbo leader said Nigerians were yet to realise the harm the kidnappers were doing to the economy of the zones by their infamous activities.

“Kidnappers are causing a lot of problems. They have not realised the level of damage they are doing to the economy of the South East and South - South, which are already backward. Kidnapping will ruin our market economy,” he declared.Suggesting further ways out of the endemic problem, Kalu observed that relations of kidnap victims who negotiate and pay ransom were promoting the illegal activity, arguing that if no one had come forward to negotiate and pay ransom, the kidnappers would reckon that they have hit a non-lucrative venture and back off.

He, however, attributed the upsurge in kidnapping to lack of power and employment opportunities for the teeming youths, whom he advised to take to honourable trades, including farming instead of indulging in “man’s inhumanity to fellow man.”

The major challenge in the battle against kidnapping in the South East is the capacity and capability of law enforcement agencies to apprehend suspects and bring them to book.  For Now the police in the zone appeared to be handicapped or are yet to come to terms with the quantum of damages being done to the economy of the zone and to the lives of Nigerians and foreigners alike, which they are constitutionally mandated to protect.
It would be recalled that the Inspector of General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, had at a recent summit on

“Resolving kidnapping, hostage taking and local terrorism in Nigeria,” held in Abuja under the auspices of Alex Ekwueme Foundation, disclosed that over $100 million (about N15 billion) was collected as ransom by kidnappers and hostage takers between 2006-2008. He accused the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) for being behind all kidnap pings in the country.

According to him, MEND uses kidnapping and hostage taking as source of raising funds and that over $200, 000 is usually the ransom money per head.

As a measure to check the trend, Okiro said the Presidency will soon send a bill to the National Assembly to tackle the menace of kidnapping and hostage taking in the country. “When the bill is passed into law, culprits will bag life imprisonment, up from the current 10 years. Anybody who conceals information about crime will go to jail for 15 years. Kidnappers and hostage takers who kill their victims will bag death sentence”, according to the law being proposed.

But the question on the lips of many in the South East is what the Nigeria Police is doing to face the immediate challenges being poised by the kidnappers that have literarily taken over Igbo land or are the police expecting the people of the zone to get used to and continue to live with the present insecurity within the South Eastern States?  The major desire of the people of the region, at least for now, Crime Guard investigations reveal, is to ensure that these kidnappers and their sponsors are hunted down and made to face the law.