What could have made the British government send a war ship,HMS Argyle, to the Gulf of Guinea and its Ministry of Defence backed the mission by sponsoring a conference on West African Maritime Security and Development?

Before the ‘Baga killings’, of penultimate week, there was My Lai, some 45 years ago.

The My Lai event happened on March 16, 1968, when a company of U.S. soldiers went into the village of My Lai 4, in Vietnam, and committed atrocities never before seen in combat. According to the testimony of one of the soldiers who later testified, “The order we were given was to kill and destroy everything that was in the village. It was clearly explained that there were to be no prisoners.”

Sequel to the kidnap of the Ejigbo Local Government boss, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, Nigerians from different walks of life have reacted to the saga.

Hitherto confined to the Niger Delta areas with immense petroleum resources accounting for over 90 per cent of the country’s wealth, later spreading to South-East zone known for having many wealthy business and industrial entrepreneurs, kidnap, the crime of abducting or taking someone away illegally by force and thereafter to demand money in exchange for releasing the victim, is gradually making inroad to the South-West and Lagos.

Reacting to the development, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO in Lagos, Ngozi Braide said kidnapping is a new development in Lagos and the Lagos Police Command is doing everything to nip it in the bud.