Kidnapping: When standing as surety became deadly business

FOR several years now, the problem of kidnapping had become a hydra-headed national issue so difficult for the government of the day to tame.

What started as a local problem in the Niger Delta area of the country has now spread to every nook and cranny of the nation in which multi million naira ransoms are paid almost on a daily basis. Victims, some of them visitors to the country, are often abused and brutalized.

So frustrated are ordinary Nigerians that they have decided to take the law into their own hands in curbing the problem, where they thought security agencies had failed to provide the needed security to protect them.

Just recently, three weeks back to be precise, Kawo area of Kaduna, Kaduna State, was the scene of jungle justice where some alleged kidnappers were killed. As early as 7.30am on that fateful day, vehicular movement on the busy Kaduna/Zaria Highway came to an abrupt halt as motorists plying the road could not get to their destinations due to the traffic hold up when an angry mob took over the Kawo flyover bridge.

Findings by Arewa Live gathered that the reason behind the commotion was that a group of alleged kidnappers had wanted to kidnap some school children, but someone sighted them and subsequently alerted passers-by and residents who chased the suspects and apprehended them.

The mob reportedly killed one of the suspects who couldn’t escape by setting him ablaze. Arewa Live also gathered that the other suspect was lucky as he was said to have submitted himself to the security personnel who came to the scene to maintain the peace.

According to a resident of Kawo community who did not want to be identified, people were already fed up with stories of kidnapping and payment of ransom, adding that “when we heard that they were kidnappers the community hurriedly blocked all entry routes making it difficult for them to escape.”

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Just recently, a pastor and 15 members of his church choir were kidnapped during a fellowship at Dankande in Igabi Local Government Area of the state. Their abductors demanded a non-negotiable ransom of N15m. A family source revealed that the pastor and two others had been released after the church gave a ransom of N3 million, with 11 others still with the kidnappers.

Another celebrated kidnap saga took place at Kajuru Castle in the southern part of the state when an American lady and her friends went to the famous Kajuru Castle for sight-seeing but she lost her life when kidnappers stormed the castle. It was reported that five persons were kidnapped during the attack.

Ironically, these cases of kidnapping are currently giving some people the coverage to commit all sorts of faux pas.

Trouble started when a businessman, Alhaji Musa Imam got engaged in a business transaction running into several millions of naira with some of his associates. Arewa Live investigations revealed that after a while, Imam’s partners who had stood surety for him in the business dealing felt that he was not keeping to the terms of the business agreement because he was allegedly not keeping faith with the financial commitment to the business deal. Thereafter, Imam’s sureties lodged a complaint at a police station in Lagos.

According to Arewa Live investigations, Imam allegedly jumped bail in Lagos and relocated to Kaduna his base. After a while the police in Lagos invited him for a chat but he was nowhere to be found. One of the sureties who knew his base in Kaduna was said to have suggested that he be checked out there.

Further investigations by Arewa Live revealed that when the sureties eventually arrived at his house in Kaduna, as soon as Imam sighted them, he played a fast one on them by ducking out of sight and took a back exit out of his house. He was almost escaping from the house in his vehicle when his sureties sighted him and gave him a chase.

Imam was said to have headed for Kawo area of the city where he believed he could be rescued by passers-by. When he was sure there were enough people to help him out in case his pursuers caught up with him, he began to shout ‘kidnappers! kidnappers!

Eyewitnesses told Arewa Live that Imam at this point allegedly abandoned his car and started running away on foot. A mob which had apparently been incensed by the activities of kidnappers in the area in recent time descended on the sureties.

It was further gathered that two of the sureties were able to escape from the mob while the unlucky one was apprehended, after which a tyre was put on his neck and set ablaze. The mob, it was learnt, also burnt down their Toyota Siena vehicle.

According to an eye witness who pleaded for anonymity, a team of policemen soon arrived at the scene and began shooting into the air to disperse the crowd. A stray bullet allegedly hit a soap seller who was at the scene.

“When the police came, one of the officers began to shoot sporadically in order to disperse the crowd; unfortunately a bullet hit the soap seller, he slumped and died on the spot,” the eyewitness told Arewa Live.

It was gathered further that it took the police some time to be able to rescue the two other sureties from the grips of the mob, as they insisted that the two men were kidnappers.

However, in a press statement, the police condemned the action of the mob saying an innocent man had been killed. According to the police spokesman, DSP Yakubu Sabo, “those killed were not kidnappers but rather sureties who stood for one Musa Imam when he had issues with his business partners.”

DSP Sabo warned that residents should stop taking the laws into their own hands, saying “the police will not hesitate to punish any person or group of persons who takes the law into their hands.”

He also remarked that the man behind the crisis, Alhaji Imam who had earlier escaped had been apprehended by the police and is being prosecuted accordingly, after which he will be charged to court.

However, a human rights activist, Ibrahim Hussaini speaking on behalf of human rights who have been following the case, advised that  the culprit should not be set free, pointing out that he should be prosecuted according to the laws and punished accordingly if found guilty. He added that “this would serve as deterrence to others.”

Given the several cases of kidnapping recorded in Kaduna State in recent times, some places of interest in the state have been deserted. Major roads are also being avoided. One of these major roads is the Birnin Gwari/Kaduna road. Members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state now refer to the road as “N1m road” because it is the least amount of money that kidnappers demand as ransom for anyone abducted on the road.

A regular commuter on the road, Kabir Ahmed, said he had also abandoned the route and would not return until it had been certified safe from attack by bandits and kidnappers.

Kidnapping might be a worrisome development, but worse still are the mounting number of cases of lynching the wrong persons suspected of being kidnappers, as it was in the case of Alhaji Imam, a situation which definitely does not augur well for personal security of every Nigerian, not only in Kaduna State but elsewhere across the country.