Anambra State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has expressed concern over the rising incidence of kidnapping in the country, stating that Nigerians may have paid no less than N10 trillion in ransoms for kidnapped victims last year.
In an emotion-filled address he delivered during this year’s armed forces remembrance day celebration in Awka, Soludo commended soldiers for enduring all manner of horrendous inconveniences to secure the people, including sleeping in the bush sometimes.
He said: “According to the published statistics, last year, by the National Bureau of Statistics, more than two trillion naira was paid as ransom. But that was the reported one.
“We believe that for every one reported, more than five or six were probably not reported. And so, if you then cascade that, maybe then more than ten trillion was paid as ransom, kidnapping for ransom has become the most lucrative business in town.
“In Anambra State, these hoodlums organize themselves to attack the police, the army, the navy, the civil defence, the vigilante, and all those involved in trying to secure us.
“When they started this mission initially, they came on a populist stand, concealing their real intentions. This was sold to Ndi Anambra and largely, a large part of the South East, and people were going into the bush to secure them, to save them against what they called the herders, the herdsmen.
“They will go to the checkpoints and shoot policemen and take their AK-47 rifles. They will go and dismantle the barracks, cart away the weapons, and several people.
“I must say, a large chunk of society were complicit in silence, not speaking out, or doing nothing, or saying nothing. We hardly condemn these activities and actions by these hoodlums, and now with this arms that they’ve accumulated, they’ve gone into the bush and organized themselves. Of course, how do they feed on a day-to-day basis? How do they feed their families?
“I want us also to remember that many of the security personnel who have died in the last few years did not die at the warfront, fighting another country. They died in the line of duty, coming to keep the peace, and the criminals intentionally, deliberately, in an organized fashion, went after them, killed them, and leaving their widows and widowers behind.
“We must remember that we are part of the problem, and unless we understand that we are part of the problem, by either keeping silent and not saying anything, not condemning these actions when they are perpetrated, or even giving out information about the identity of the perpetrators, to that extent, we also share responsibility.
“It will be sheer hypocrisy for us to come every year to say we are remembering these people, while the threats are still within and amongst us.
“These criminals are not spirits, they live amongst us, they live in our villages, they are people’s brothers, they are people’s children, they are people’s relations, they are people’s husbands and wives, they live amongst us.
“It is not just enough to walk every fifteenth of January, solemnly walk, and lay the wreath, and remember our fallen heroes. We must make the point and realize that we are contributing, one way or the other, by acts of omission or commission, in having a continuing flow of people who die needlessly and senselessly.”
The governor said that when the state officially unveils its new comprehensive security architecture this weekend, it would go after these criminals in a comprehensive and sustainable manner.
He said that, hopefully, the new law, titled, the Homeland Security Law of Anambra State, which is before the House of Assembly now, would have been in place.
“Anambra people cannot wait to have that comprehensive law from the House of Assembly that will codify several of these misdemeanors and criminal activities; so we can have the legal basis to be able to prosecute and go after these criminals.
“We must cleanse Anambra, and we will also be calling on everybody, all citizens, all residents of Anambra, that it is our homeland and everybody has something to do. Even if you can’t do anything physically, at least you can say something. You know something, you say something.
“I want to call on our people that this moment today, the fifteenth day of January, while we remember the dead, while we celebrate the living, all of us as a people must remember that the issue of security is our collective responsibility. “
The governor urged the people to continue to work together to build a safer, more secure, and more prosperous Anambra State.
