By Jeddy Omisore
Lagos
State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has signed the Anti-Kidnapping Law, which
stipulates death penalty for kidnappers. The law recommends death for
kidnappers in whose custody victims died and life jail for those who kidnapped
for ransom. Espousing the importance of security to his administration, the
governor has said: Security is of utmost importance to our administration and
we are confident that this law will serve as a deterrent to anybody who may
desire to engage in this wicked act within the boundaries of Lagos.
The
Anti-Kidnapping Law is comprehensive as it prescribes punishment for the
actors, the collaborators, and those who saw the kidnapping being
perpetrated and did nothing about it. Certainly, the wave of kidnapping has
gotten to a stage where the government can no longer fold its arms and watch as
kidnapper terrorise the populace. Thus, the law is meant to send signals to
kidnappers that an end has come to their filthy and criminal game.
It is not
surprising that the Lagos State government is paying deserved attention to
security issues. Lagos, being the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, and
indeed West Africa, has enormous security challenges bearing in mind its
burgeoning population, its ports and waterways, its border with Benin Republic as
well as its numerous banks, industries and other commercial enterprises.
With this peculiar status, the rate of crime in Lagos, over the years, has been
relatively higher as it is in other parts of the country. Though, a national
problem, topping the log of debated crimes among Lagosians these days is
kidnapping. Kidnapping was re-invented’ in the creeks of the Niger Delta
by militants as a way of coercing government to meet their developmental
demand. Later on it was ‘perfected’ in the South East for commercial purposes.
Today, the crime has become converted into a top money-spinning industry by
unscrupulous criminals who kidnap for ransom across the nation.
According
to a Freedom House report, Nigeria recorded one of the highest rates of
kidnapping in the world in 2013. Similarly, the U.S. Department of State’s
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 indicates that kidnapping
and related violence were “serious” problems in Nigeria.
Today, in
Nigeria, kidnappers spare neither the old nor the young. Their victims cut
across age grades while hitherto considered sacred men have been touched.
Father of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Pa Ebele Jonathan was kidnapped
while his son was the Vice President. Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, Chief Olu Falae,
and a traditional ruler in Lagos, Oniba of Iba, Yishau Goriola Oseni among
other high profile personalities which included parents of footballers like
Joseph Yobo and Mikel Obi had all been kidnapped in the recent past. Last year,
three school girls were seized from Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary,
Ikorodu, but were later freed by the police. And recently, students and staff
of Nigeria-Turkish International School, Isheri, Ogun State, were kidnapped and
later released after ransom was paid.
