By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor

Early morning release of four Lagos-based journalists,  Sunday inside the hinterlands in far-away Ukpakiri, Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State, should not just be simply celebrated.  It should be a poignant call to duty for both the people, security agents and governments at the local, state and Federal levels. 

Though, the joy of seeing these hapless and helpless men of the fourth estate of the realm alive, after such a traumatic but unfortunate experience in the hands of criminals, should naturally, call for popping of champagne, the far-reaching consequences of the brazen manner the abductors held sway for a nerve-racking and tension-soaked eight days should, simply be considered as an affront.  It is a clear testimony to the hollowness of our much touted slang of equipping the security agencies, especially the police, to face the onerous challenges ahead. 

It rubbishes calls from some Nigerians for a total overhaul of the Police without emphasis on equipment which is what is primarily needed for even the best trained security men to operate with.  The mere fact that the Inspector-General of Police had to relocate to the ‘war zone’ should have been seen from a perspective of glaring inadequacy and unpreparedness on the part of those, whose responsibility it is to provide Nigeria with a twenty first century police force. 

From day one, close observers reckoned the hasty search for the abductors of the journalists by authorities of the force as a flagrant display of what should aptly be tagged ‘a theatre of the absurd’.  What!, with the Inspector-General of Police leaving the Police Headquarters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory to run around all the States in the South-Eastern  part of the country. 

Wahab Alabi Oba,2nd left, with his colleagues after they regained their freedom, Sunday in Umuahia.

  While he was there, rightly appealing to the conscience of all stake holders including traditional rulers, business men and even his fellow policemen to turn a new leaf, skeptics were wondering how the same Police were co-ordinating the other Kogi and Kano axis where similar kidnapping drama was being enacted. 

It is obvious that the rescue of the four journalists and their driver took the combined efforts and goodwill and prayers of every Nigerian, and the determination of the Inspector-General of Police who led the operation to perform the feat.  What, however remains to be assessed is the issue of continuity.  Will this stop further kidnapping? Will this make the security agents to sit up? How would the kidnappers be rounded up and made to turn a new leaf? And many other yawning questions.

It is interesting to note that the Police deployed all they have into this exercise of rounding up abductors of the journalists.  Many do not know that the tracking equipments they used for the operation were borrowed from an Israeli Intelligence consultant in Nigeria and the State Security Service (SSS).  That was what they used in locating the area where the abductors were operating from. 

Is it not therefore shameful that the Police in Nigeria, considered to be the largest in Africa, has no tracking machine?They cannot buy such machine because they are funded through the government budget. Worse still, the entire Nigeria Police Force has two helicopters which they promptly deployed to the area for surveillance.   

 Experts will tell you that the helicopters could easily be blown out of the sky  by a rocket- propelled grenade because it is not armoured.    Have we thought about the cost of this singular operation in terms of money and time.  The men that were thrown into the bush to carry out a house-to-house search for the abductors, did anybody care to ask how they were equipped for the assignment?  

While the criminals they were looking for were heavily equipped with sophisticated weapons, our policemen were given inferior guns to face them.  They had no body armour, no helmet, no bullet proof etc to face the dangerous task ahead.   If analysed properly,   it would glaringly show that the Nigeria Police Force is grossly under funded.  It has exposed the inadequacies of the force which they have been shouting for many years. 

This incident has also exposed our communities by their behaviour.  There appears to be a conspiracy with the kidnappers because they were reportedly not ready to give information to the police.  Even when they do, it would be leaked to the criminals. That accounts for reports that so many arrests were made during the operation. 

In fact, it was reliably gathered that no fewer than 100 persons which included; commercial motorcyclists who secretly leak information to the kidnappers, GSM sellers who recharge the cards which the criminals were using to terrorize families and even medical personnel who were readily offering their services to the kidnappers, were arrested.  

 Interestingly, news that the criminals had to relocate to, as much as 120 hideouts, while security agents were closing in on them is a pointer to the sad realisation that they have a highly organised network of evil collaborators.  Police sources said that in each of those hideouts they abandoned, remnants of their stay were recovered.   The emerging scenario is a clear pointer to the urgent need for all the GSM operators to register their SIM cards. It will go a long way in checkmating the atrocities being perpetrated by these criminals. 

Further more, the Inspector-General of Police should see this development as a clarion call for the urgent purging of his men not just in that zone but all over the country.  On it’s part, the Federal Government should declare a State of Emergency in the area of equipment of  Police and other security agencies in the country.  Failure to take these actions now, will certainly have dire consequences and especially, erase hopes of peace in the forth coming elections.