By

Des Wilson

The Chambers 20th Century Dictionary defines 'kidnap' as: 'to steal (a human being) for ransom'. It further glosses 'kid' as 'a child' and 'nap' as 'to seize', 'to steal'. That is why we have always seen this evil practice as human stealing or theft. Perhaps, at first, this act was restricted to the stealing of children by adults, before it became what it is today – the forceful seizure of children and adults for ransom! Once again fear has gripped many Akwa Ibom residents because a matter that was essentially the past time of depraved adults has been taken over by misguided and disoriented youths. Akwa Ibom has once more regained its pride of place as a cauldron of kidnappers making it a little hell here on earth. Fear is now palpable. Wives no longer have cause to advise their wayward husbands on the need to be home early. Churches which specialize in nocturnal activities have begun to lose their membership. Pastors in evening programmes long used to delivering sleep-inducing harangues have begun to learn that the fear of kidnappers is the beginning of wisdom. It is not clear why this situation has persisted for this long. Accusations and counter-accusations have passed from one camp to the other. The governor and his friends think, it is the handiwork of their enemies. The argument runs thus: Those who are jealous of the administration's great strides in development want to ensure that it becomes unpopular with the people and perhaps is discredited. There is a possibility, though remote, in this line of thought. I have it on good authority that even a former minister of the Federal Republic laid the accusation recently against a former governor, accusing the latter of being behind the spate of kidnappings in order to discredit the government. I understand there was almost an uproar when the former Minister, noted to often suffer from verbal diarrhea, made the charge before the former governor. But certainly, not too many Akwa Ibom indigenes believe this, given the antecedents of most of the leading lights in the present administration.
But the other argument, mostly favoured by those markedly identified as opposition forces, is that the present government desperate for a second term has put in place several killer squads and kidnappers to ensure that all opposition forces are frightened out of existence or are made financially impecunious in order to render them prostate before the 2011 gubernatorial race. I think we have all been paying lip service to this alarming situation. At the beginning of this administration, I had warned that what happened in Port Harcourt and other parts of Rivers State would be a child's play if we did not seriously tackle the problem then. Now we are in the thick of it. Everyone except the perpetrators appear to be perplexed. This human robbery has become trivialized, leading to all sorts of ridiculous incidents. Those who now see this as a lucrative occupation are feeding on the lack of sensitivity of members of the community. It has always been my belief that despite the lapses of some security agencies, the population needs to play the key role of ensuring that these criminals are fished out. If we are all sensitive to our environment, it would be difficult for such criminals to operate around us. In this matter we all have to serve as informers to the security forces in order to be able to stem this tide. And we need community policing to complement existing measures.
I do not believe that the state governor would love to place the citizens under perpetual fear of kidnappers. For this reason, something drastic has to be done to arrest the situation NOW. I wish to warn that if nothing is done then by the time we approach the election year many endangered citizens would have moved out to other states and potential investors would completely fizzle out. I believe we have to conduct some soul searching so as to put an end to this evil. There is no use everyone pretending that he or she does not know who the kidnappers are. Let us search among the thugs we used in rigging elections, the abandoned stalwarts who know no other source of income other than politics and the numerous other fringe criminals from within and the 'crime contractors' we invite from neighonouring states to do our bidding, and we shall end kidnapping.
All these are happening here because some of us believe that politics is a do-or-die affair. And unfortunately there are many of us who have a phobia for proper education and have only been able to find a hiding place in the frightening and turbulent backwaters of murky politics. Let us find sustainable means of livelihood for this group, many of whom dropped out of school and have no other certificate except this badge of dishonor. We must not reward criminality especially of the type that is cult-based. We must not give the youths the wrong impression that making easy money through fraudulent means is a noble way of life. Some of such fellows are known to openly boast that though we deride their criminality yet they are ruling over us. Our society must be built on morally sound foundation. As it seems we have taken the wrong route and a moral detour is not out of place. Our failure to do that which is right and needful is responsible for our troubles in this state.
Let us make a fresh start. Delay is dangerous. We cannot afford to waste more lives as we did in Iwok (Nsit Atai) two weeks ago. Three female worshippers lost their lives ostensibly because they did not understand the order given in English, which demanded they should lie flat on the floor inside the church while the kidnappers tried to abduct their hostage. Akwa Ibom ado okay!