We Are All Kidnappers By Mike Ozekhome

Its no more a new trending story, the story is now notorious, of Chukwudubem

Onwuamadike, aka Evans, whom a section of

the media has profanely glorified as a “multi-

billionaire kidnapper”, thus, unwittingly edifying

and ennobling kidnapping and such vile crimes.

Kidnapping is the abduction or unlawful

transportation of a person, usually to hold the

person against his or her will and consent. This

may be done for ransom or in furtherance of

another crime. It refers to the crime of seizing,

confining, abducting, or carrying away a person

by force or fraud, often to subject him or her to

involuntary servitude in an attempt to demand a

ransom. Most countries consider it a grave

offence punishable by death or long prison

sentence. In Nigeria, kidnapping is a felony.

Section 364 of the Criminal Code Act that

operates in the Southern part of Nigeria

provides 10 years imprisonment, while Section

273 of the Penal Code, which operates in the

North prescribes 10 years, plus fine.

Many Nigerians have argued that the extant

anti-kidnapping laws in the country are not

stringent enough to dissuade criminals from

finding kidnapping a lucrative business of

making quick money. They clamour for stricter

penalties. This is why some states like Edo,

Delta, Rivers and Oyo have passed the anti -

kidnapping laws and imposed the death penalty

for convicted kidnappers. Whether this has

achieved its objective is another matter entirely.

Kidnapping has been used since the dawn of

mankind to gain advantage in a conflict, for

political reasons, ransom, or to settle scores.

Mexico is the world capital of drug cartels and

quite a good example for organised crime. Here,

kidnapping is focused on tourists and members

of groups in conflict. An average of 7, 576

people have been kidnapped in the past five

years. Mexico is followed by India, where about

4, 921 persons have been kidnapped in the last

five years. Surprisingly, Nigeria now ranks top in

the world, where an average of 1, 529 persons

are kidnapped annually. Pakistan (320 average

per annum); Venezuela (245 average per

annum); Lebanon (198 annually); Philippines

(120 annually); Afghanistan (100 annually);

Colombia and Iraq, also rank in this group.

We are all Evans, one way or another. Simply

summarised, Evans had viciously kidnapped

targeted and profiled wealthy members of the

society, especially on the FESTAC, ASPAMDA

axis. He would manacle and shackle them,

hands and feet, in his inhuman detention

dungeons spread across Lagos and some other

states of the federation. He would then dictate

to the trembling victims, how much money they

must pay in pounds, euros and dollars, to secure

their precious lives. He was in total control.

Though barely literate, having dropped out in

form three in secondary school, his educational

inadequacy is hugely compensated for in his

elephantine native intelligence. He would never

negotiate with his captives’ relations and

friends. That was too risky. He rather dictated,

not negotiated, directly, with his squirmy victims

under threats of death.

To aid his horrendously lucrative blood

“business”, he had about 170 telephone lines.

Two of his handsets were Thuraya and Vertu,

costing N2.4 million and N2.6million,

respectively. This princely sum of N5 milion for

only two telephone handsets is enough to set

up a thriving business for a Nigerian; or build a

four-bedroom bungalow; or buy 35 commercial

motorcycles to empower struggling unemployed

graduates, whose only “crime” is that they went

through pains and pangs to study in the

university, while Evans was busy acquiring the

latest global kidnap tactics and strategies. The

good news is that the long arm of the law,

though slow, has finally caught up with Evans.

But, the bad news is that we are all certified

kidnappers in the mould of Evans.

I will tell you why. Evans never kept his victims

in lonely, desolate, eerie jungles where owls

hoot ominously and monkeys do tricky

“janglover” jumps on tree branches. When I was

kidnapped for three weeks, I was kept in the

jungles. But, I could hear church music, native

drumming and singing, not far away. I could

decipher the local language from the lyrics. Our

kidnappers used cars and motorcycles to

purchase food stuff and fuel. I was convinced

that the locals very well knew what “profession”

my kidnappers were into. They obviously

condoned it or, perhaps, enjoyed the resultant

blood money. God, I thank you eternally for

saving my life. It was most horrific an

experience. Death by installments! Fear of

death; fear of fear! But, Evans unusually kept

his captives inside busy neighbourhoods and

estates. From the pictures and videos shown of

his detention cells in new Igando town and

Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos, Evans daringly

operated right inside busy communities. Did

neighbours not see suspicious movements over

the years? Did they not do simple inquiry and

due diligence, as to who their next door

neighbours were; and what they did for a living?

Did neighbours not observe unusual vehicular

traffic, taking in and ejection of passengers,

some skirmishes and then sudden dead silence?

Were they not worried that their immediate

neighbours did not come out openly in the day

time to associate and interact with others? If

they did, could they not simply interview such

neighbours in a friendly manner, as to their

names, what they did for a living; where they

worked; their state of origin; profession, etc.

We become automatic complicit kidnappers

when, out of negligence, indifference and sheer

idiocy, we allow vicious, murderous kidnappers

to live in our midst, and keep our brothers and

sisters in dungeons next doors.

How many Nigerians actually know the true

identities, places of origin and next of kin of

their house-helps, drivers, intrusive electricians,

plumbers, dry cleaners, and the very “security”

men that “guard” their homes? They are mostly

the unseen, lurking link to kidnappers. We are,

therefore, all certified kidnappers in every sense

of the word. After all, some greedy members of

the legislature have kidnapped our common

purse and our national patrimony. Some corrupt

eggs within the judiciary have kidnapped our

blindfolded Justitia, the Roman goddess of

justice, by auctioning her to the highest bidders.

The draconian, tyrannical and despotic

executive has since kidnapped our individual

and collective rights and liberties, good

governance, rule of law, transparency and

accountability. Instead, it has unleashed on the

hapless citizenry many Evans, by billowing out

acute hunger, nerve-racking poverty, abject

penury, fear, despondency, haplessness, pains,

pangs, blood and sorrow.

Some professionals have kidnapped our

professional sense of decency and dedication to

duty. Our parents, through bad examples, have

kidnapped our cherished family values,

endearing societal ethos and moral rectitude.

Our churches and mosques have kidnapped our

collective spiritual, celestial and even terrestrial

values, turning sacred houses of God into

bacchanalian bazaars of merchantilistic barters.

Our traditional institutions have kidnapped our

noble traditional ancestral values, by doling out

chieftaincy titles to kidnappers,

“Otokotos” (ritualists), drug pushers, armed

robbers, prostitutes, advance fee fraudsters and

notorious criminal elements. Titles awarded to

such miscreants always end with “one”, never

“two”: “Ogbigbi I”, “Osofia I”, “Otunba of the

Universe”, “Maigworo of Gagudu”, etc. Our

citadels of learning have since kidnapped our

lofty educational and intellectual standards by

awarding degrees to half baked graduands, who

can pay the right fee; and by awarding honorary

doctorate degrees and fellowships to celebrated

misfits, whose only claim to importance is

belonging to the top echelon of despicable

money bags. Our children have kidnapped our

once cherished parental values, by turning

themselves into vicious cultists, common

prostitutes, heartless kidnappers, dangerous

armed robbers, incorrigible drug pushers, serial

murderers, etc.

Now, you see why we are all certified

kidnappers? Yes. Certificated Kidnappers of our

cherished customs, traditions, cultures, history,

values, ethics, morals, decency, godliness,

integrity, honour and dignity. God, exorcise the

kidnappers in us, amen.

The anti-graft “war” and pathetic historical

revisionists at work

The leadership of the Presidential Advisory

Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), at a

programme recently organised by the National

Association of Seadogs (the Pirates

Confraternity), was said to have lambasted the

Attorney General of the Federation, for allegedly

not seriously fighting the anti-corruption war.

I had been invited, as a guest speaker to the

programme, but unfortunately could not make it,

due to prior professional engagements, which I

duly communicated to the understanding

organisers. I had desired to speak to PACAC

members, eye ball to eye ball, as I did in June

last year, and March, this year, when I spoke

truth to authority at an anti-corruption seminar

they invited me to.

Specifically, one professor Femi Odekunle, a

member of PACAC, in unjustifiably castigating

the AG, Abubakar Malami, SAN, as not being

committed to the anti-corruption “war”, was

said to have moaned, in lachrymal effusion,

thus, in the Vanguard of June 22, 2017:

“Is the Attorney-General of the Federation, who is

to lead the anti-corruption fight, going by the way

things have been going in the past two years, as

committed as others who could have done the job

better?”

Odekunle was literally recommending the AG’s

sack. It is quite shameful, painful and

disheartening that Professor Olufemi Odekunle,

who was himself implicated in a phantom coup

with his master, General Oladipo Diya, in 1997,

horrifically manacled and chained down like an

animal, by Abacha’s goons, awaiting death, has

continued to advertise “rofo-rofo” fight against

corruption (an euphemism for crude, bestial,

violation of cherished rights and liberties of

Nigerian citizens).

At page 5, Vanguard, Thursday, 22nd June,

2017, Odekunle queried:

“Does the Presidency realise that routine crime

prevention and methodology, instruments and

processes are not adequate in fighting corruption

in this country? That is, does the Presidency

realise that fighting corruption must be a ‘rofo

rofo’ fight? That it is not a question of due

process, long process, fair hearing and all those

that will give you technical justice instead of real

justice?”

I do not usually discuss individuals by name,

except where the story is not detachable from

them, as in Odekunle’s particular case. I dwell

on ideas; issues, challenges and solutions.

But, I am appalled that Professor Odekunle, a

once pathetic victim of a crude process that we

strenously protested against on the streets of

Lagos and Abuja to save from the jaws of

death, no longer believes in fair hearing and due

process! What is in this Aso Villa – acquired

power that changes intakes into monstrosities?

Their grouse with the AGF is that the AGF, a

decent man, is not, unlike PACAC members,

employing crude, gestapo-like, inhuman and

degrading methods to cow opposition, critical

voices, try and convict them in the media ever

before the real trial commences. The “problem”

with the AGF is that he is too mature and

knowledgeable in the Constitution and laws than

their warped, vindictive and puerile stance.

Odekunle, for the records, was, on December 20,

1997, at 3.00am, woken up in his Abuja home,

by the dreaded Abacha “Strike Force” and

captured like a common criminal. He had been

appointed Chairman, Advisory Committee (he

must be an expert “Adviser”), to General Oladipo

Diya, the then Chief of General Staff, on Socio-

political and Economic Matters. He was beaten

black and blue, like a stubborn goat that stupidly

went frolicking into a busy market on a market

day. These were his personal words. He was

made to urinate and defecate in the full glare of

gun-totting soldiers, with a short time line given

to complete both. He literally froze in the cold

harmattan wind. He was only released from cell

4 in Jos gulag, on July 15, 1998, at 10.30 pm.

This is the same man who later supported the

unholy midnight raid on judges by hooded DSS

operatives, same hoods some of his captors had

worn on that fateful day. They even wanted

Odekunle to implicate himself. And this man no

longer believes in due process, rule of law and

respect for human rights. Oh, God, you are just

too patient and tolerant of man’s inhumanity to

man.

Last year, PACAC had trenchantly defended CCT

Chairman, Danladi Umar, because it felt it was a

done deal for Umar to convict Saraki. As soon

as Umar rejected blaring sirens of power and

freed Saraki, they turned against him. They

initially supported N250 million grass-cutting

Babachir Lawal, but later turned against him

when he was suspended by PMB. What manner

of characters are these? They simply blow hot

and cold; they approbate and reprobate. No

principles, targets, aims, objectives. Rotimi

Jacobs, SAN, a seasoned lawyer, has since done

the right thing by appealing. But PACAC, which

glorifies the handcuffing of suspects, media trial

and brazen dictatorship, are weeping. The HAG

has certainly done better than they. It is their

blatant usurpation of the HAG’s powers under

Section 174 of the Constitution, playing to the

gallery, noise making, brute force, unguarded

statements and narcism, that have irredeemably

wrecked their so-called, still-born anti-corruption

“fight”.

I challenge PACAC leadership disclose to

Nigerians, how much money and what

properties, the EFCC, DSS, ICPC, Police, DIA,

etc., have so far recovered from the “looters” of

our common treasury. I challenge them to

display to the public, their filled assets

declaration forms, if any, with the Code of

Conduct Bureau (CCB). If they cannot carry out

these simple anti-corruption indices, they should

forever keep silent and save us the insults and

ridicule of our collective sensibilities.

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Written by Mike Ozekhome/Sun News