Mr Wahab Oba, chairman, Lagos chapter of NUJ and others

By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor, Kingsley Omonobi,  Anayo Okoli, Olasunaknmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo

ABUJA—SENATE President, David Mark said, yesterday, the solution to the increasing wave of kidnapping and general insecurity in the South East lay in government declaring a state of emergency in Abia and any other state where it is rampant.

Senator Mark also advocated the application of jungle solution to the rising level of kidnappings and armed robbery to serve as deterrents to others, saying the rule of law cannot be applied in a jungle situation. Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo said the police would begin house to house search of the kidnappers.

He said: “The way I see it, if we can declare a state of emergency on power, we should declare a state of emergency on kidnapping. We should declare a state of emergency in all these areas where we have armed robbery and kidnapping and because I think we have a misconception on the issue of state of emergency, it does not mean you will remove the governor, and then take over, no. It is part of our Constitution.

If we can declare a state of emergency on power, we should do it for kidnapping and then armed robbery.

Primary responsibilities

“There is no reason why the commissioner of police should be sitting on his seat if there is kidnapping on daily basis in his state. It means they have failed. It is their primary responsibilities; they should be told in very clear terms that they failed to handle the situation. None of us here can go and do their jobs for them.

That is what they are paid to do, to make sure that there is safety.

“Presently, it is simply a jungle environment and rule must change to conform to those who operate in jungle environment and I believe that the security agencies should be able to do that.”

The Senate president’s position came just as the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, said the police would embark on house to house, community to community search for criminals and weapons in Ngwa land and other communities in Abia State.

Mark’s recommendation followed debates on the motion entitled: “The Rising Wave of Insecurity in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator Anthony Manzo and 18 others, in which Senators condemned the kidnapping of four journalists in Abia State.

Mark who also decried the general insecurity in the country especially the South-East and South-South called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in Abia, and any other state where kidnapping is rampant.

Asks Abia CP to resign

While calling for kidnappers to be treated the same way they treat their victims, Mark said the Commissioner of Police in Abia State ought to have resigned by now, having failed to control the security situation in the state.

He said: “There are immediate causes and we should find immediate solution. Personally, in the situation of jungle environment, where we want to apply rule of law, it could be very difficult indeed at times.

Those who are involved must be handled in such a way that they will never contemplate it in life again. Because at the moment, they are being handle with kids glove.

“All those who are involved, who are connected, if you are the one sponsoring them or providing them information must be treated as kidnappers and treated in the same way because there are lots of people who are involved in this whole business.”

At the end of deliberations on the motion, the Senate also resolved to hold a national summit on kidnapping to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Meantime, a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. James Ayuba, PDP, Plateau, has urged traditional rulers and communities to rise up and help stem the increasing rate of kidnappings in the country.

The lawmaker who blamed the recent kidnapping of four journalists in Obingwa local government area of Abia on the unwillingness of communities and traditional rulers to join the campaign against kidnapping and other vices, urged the Federal Government to check the dangerous trend.

Dangerous trend

It would be recalled that Mr Wahab Oba, chairman, Lagos chapter of NUJ, Mr Adolphos Okonkwo, Secretary of zone G of NUJ, Mr Sylvester Okereke, Acting Secretary of NUJ, Lagos chapter, Shola Oyeyipo, a Lagos based Journalist and a driver were kidnapped on Sunday.

The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of N 250 million before they can release their captives who were returning from the National Executive Meeting of the Union in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state.

He further called on traditional rulers to help in the fight against kidnapping in their domain saying that the fight against criminality must be all inclusive.

The lawmaker described the abduction of the four Journalists as a great challenge to security agencies in the country.

He reaffirmed confidence in the ability of the police and other security agencies in the country to free the captives within the shortest possible time.

AS the 24 hour ultimatum issued by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, to kidnappers of four journalists last Sunday in Obingwa area of Abia State, expired without the abducted journalists being freed, Governor Theodore Orji has hired Israeli experts who are assisting the police to rescue the journalists.

This came just as police authorities, yesterday, said the inspector general had secured the commitment of traditional rulers in Abia and Imo states to face the menace of kidnapping headlong.

The Israelis were seen with Onovo when they visited Umuahia and Aba, Tuesday, in preparation for the operation. Onovo, Tuesday, met with Governor Orji, Aba business community and the over 800 traditional rulers from the state, including those from Obingwa council, seen as haven for crimes, especially kidnapping.

Onovo said the police would embark on house to house, community to community search for criminals and weapons in Ngwa land and other communities in the state.

Meanwhile, the leadership of NUJ has been communicatingwith the abductors.
Onovo who addressed the royal fathers, Tuesday evening, after his meeting with the Aba business community, lamented the bad image the menace of kidnapping had brought to Ndigbo. He said even his job,  might as well be threatened because the atrocity was being committed by youths from his geo-political zone.

Involvement of
policemen

Though he admitted that some of his men were involved in kidnapping, the IGP, however, assured that they were being takeng care of.
Onovo who spoke in Igbo wondered why Ndigbo would only be leaders in evil acts that fetch money, noting that it was against the hard working spirit which Ndigbo were known for.
He said: “On our part, we have problem because some of our men have hands in the crimes. We have to put our house in order too. We are already taking care of them. A lot of our men are in Abia not to work any more but to trade (make money).”
Onovo said South-East leaders, especially himself and the governors, had become objects of mockery by their colleagues from other zones, who always embarrassed them each time they met, asking them mockingly, about kidnapping and at times making caricature of them by calling them kidnappers.
He said: “I came from Abuja because of what is happening in our land. It is embarrassing. I don’t know when Ndigbo joined in leading bad life. Our youths are now committing all manner of evils just to make money. Ndigbo are killing Ndigbo in Igboland. They kidnap anybody at sight— old, young, even royal fathers. It is a big problem. Are Ndigbo the only people who are facing hardship? Why are our youths in the forefront of these evils?
“When drug was in vogue, it was Igbos. In 419, it was our people. Robbery, our people also lead. Must we be first only in evil things? Our royal fathers, please you have to find solution to this, even if it means calling on our forefathers to intervene like what happened in Benin where the Oba said enough was enough. Ndigbo are noted for their hard work, not crime. But the quest and love for money have changed this virtue for bad. We recognize their wealth without minding how it came. We need you to give us information about these people.
“Crime is every where in the country but no other people have kidnapping as pronounced as in the South East. I don’t have problem in other areas but in Igboland. We have been embarrassed and insulted by other tribes because of kidnapping. They see me as a doctor that cannot cure himself. They call us kidnappers. We will no longer keep quiet.
“We want to sanitize the place. To tell you the truth, it will not be easy. We will now be going from house to house, place to place. Information we have is that some Ngwa people produce guns and they use it for crimes. The journalists kidnapped last Sunday, we are still looking for them. We will go there and look for them. Not only in Ngwaland, we will also go everywhere. Whoever we arrest will be on his own.”

IGP gets royal
fathers’ commitment

Police authorities, however, said, yesterday, the Inspector-General of Police had secured the commitment of traditional leaders in Abia and Imo States to face the menace of kidnapping headlong, noting that they resolved to go home and create an environment that would not be conducive to the crime.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emma Ojukwu who spoke to Vanguard on phone, said the commitment was a fall-out from the on-going heart-to-heart talk with the rulers over the continued search for abductors of journalists.
Ojukwu said: “The resolve by the rulers has driven home the imperatives of community involvement in solving crime.”

Onovo meets NUJ national leadership

Meantime, Mr. Onovo, yesterday, held a strategic meeting with the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mallam Garba Mohammed in Umuahia where he explained the strenuous and thorough measures being applied to rescue the journalists.
Also present at the meeting were the National Vice Chairman of NUJ, Ambrose Nwachukwu, National Secretary, Shuaibu Usman Leman and other state officials.
Confirming the meeting which held for approximately one hour, Force Public relations officer, ACP Emmanuel Ojukwu said, the IG re-assured the NUJ leadership that the measures put in place would  lead to the rescue of the journalists.
Meanwhile, Onovo, has frowned at the attitude of some citizens who paid ransom to kidnappers to secure the release of their loved ones, noting that such payments encouraged others to get into the crime.

Kidnapped  Oba asks for prayers

Vanguard learnt that the abducted Chairman of the Lagos NUJ, Mr. Wahaab Alabi Oba, sent a word from the nest of the kidnappers where he is currently being held captive with four others, yesterday, urging Nigerians to continue to pray for their safe return home.

Oba reportedly told the National President of the NUJ, Mr. Mohammed Garba, that he and the others were in good health.

The state council’s Vice Chairman, Mr. Deji Elumoye who briefed a delegation from the Lagos State Government who came on a solidarity visit to the union, said that Oba, in the conversation, called on Nigerians to pray for them over their current ordeal.

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, who led the delegation was told that Oba told Garba: “We are okay here, we have been well treated here so far.

There has not been any form of harm to us but nothing is as good as having your freedom. Please pray for us.”

Commenting on the incident, Bamidele urged the Federal Government to urgently put in place steps to curb the rising wave of poverty in the country as a means of nipping the rampant case of abduction in the country in the bud.

He said: “This kidnap of Oba and others is one too many. We believe that there’s never a good justification for anyone to resort to kidnapping as a means of livelihood.”