Abugu: Kidnapping: When There’s Will...

THE on-going military campaign to destroy what remains of militant camps in the Niger Delta is typical of the decisive action a government pushed to the limits of its patience by some criminal elements within its fold is bound, even justified, to take. According to reports, the action is paying off handsomely.
Make no mistake about this: as a journalist who has visited many parts of the oil-producing region in my career, I will always identify with the genuine agitation of the people of the Niger Delta for a fair deal in the sharing of our national revenue most of which comes from the oil produced in the nation’s black gold belt. I believe that current effort hasn’t gone far enough to mitigate the devastating effects of years of neglect of the Niger Delta by preceding administrations in the country over the years and, therefore, that a lot more needs to be done to right the socio-economic wrongs done to the people and land of the Niger Delta by the rest of Nigeria. But, I am at pains to understand the thrust of the current agitation that has resulted in the sabotage of oil installations and the kidnap of oil workers and other innocent people by militants who still call themselves MEND.
Well, no matter. For me, however, the important point here is that by the Niger Delta campaign, the government has demonstrated that law and order can, indeed, be established even in a politically volatile environment such as ours, if the political elite would muster the necessary will to show decisive leadership in the conduct of public affairs. Until recently, that will was what was lacking in the fight against the atrocious incidence of kidnapping in parts of the country.
Cast your mind back to Aba, Abia State. Not too long ago, we almost lost the energetic Enyimba city, which many in Nigeria like to call the Taiwan of Africa because of the industry and inventiveness of its population, to criminal gangs of kidnappers and extortionists. Despite all that the state government did, buying hundreds of brand new patrol vehicles and security gadgets for the police and paying hefty allowances to the force’s officers and men to encourage them to fight the pernicious crime in the state, the police could not cope, although, in some cases, there were strong reasons to believe that the police could have done better if they chose. For instance, some residents alleged that at the height of the Aba kidnap crisis, even when they had valuable tip-offs, the police inexplicably failed to arrest some of the hostage-taking kingpins now on the run from the long hands of the law. Meanwhile, Aba had virtually shut down with residents fleeing the town and banks not opening shop.
That was the embarrassing situation in a part of peacetime Nigeria until the government woke up to its responsibility and deployed soldiers to flush out the criminals. Today, Aba is back on its feet.
The kidnap incidents in Akwa Ibom State and other parts of the country have become too frequent and so embarrassing to the nation, if you ask me, that it is time the federal government employed the Aba option to deal with the situation. And the Aba option does not necessarily subsist in troops deployment; it could also come in the form government deciding that enough is enough and employing the best possible means to deal with a nagging problem. That is exactly what we mean by political will. Aba has demonstrated that once a government overcomes its own inner fears and or inertia, it can do so much.
Read More:http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29788:abugu-kidnapping-when-theres-will&catid=38:columnists&Itemid=615