GUARDIAN NG
The new war on kidnapping and criminality has to be fought on the frontier of knowledge. The new bands of criminals are vicious and lack any semblance of humanity or mercy. They are worse than animals, but they are living among us. Yet, we are all scarred because we think the government may also be as helpless as some of us.
We don’t know who is next. Now, the criminals are focusing on unusual targets. In Ekiti State, the criminals made attempt to kidnap three traditional rulers. They killed two in the process and one escaped. The following day, a whole bus of school children with their teachers, was carted away.
Few days later, they killed the traditional ruler of Koro Ekiti in Kwara State. This is a direct challenge to authority of the state. It is an indictment of our statehood.
On Tuesday, Ekiti State Governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, told a delegation of Afenifere, the mainstream Yoruba cultural and political movement, that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in constant touch with him throughout the period of ordeal when the children were with the kidnappers, until they were rescued.
The delegation was sent by Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of Afenifere and Asiwaju Yoruba. The governor did not confirm to the delegation whether the kidnappers got the ransom they wanted.
As long as kidnapping remains a thriving business, where investors can reap millions during a single transaction and with no immediate and dire consequences, young children of the devil would be attracted to it.
Kudos to the security agencies who seem to have arrested the right suspects in the slaying of the three traditional rulers. Grave and immediate consequences is the only antidote to save our society from these vermin. We only hope the same swift and sure rewards would be visited on politicians who are also involved in the kidnapping of Nigeria’s future.
One of the most important functions of the state is the capacity for legitimate violence. In the closing years of the 19th century when the Nigeria state was being coupled together from the factory of British imperialism, the most important instrument to show that a new state had arrived was the force to impose its will.
Now a ragtag force is challenging authority of the Nigeria state. Every day, you hear frightening news about kidnapping, killings, raping and other violent crimes. As you are reading this, hundreds, perhaps, thousands of Nigerian citizens are being held by kidnappers and families are in distress trying to raise ransom to free them.
The ocean is deep and the dangerous beast of the deep might strike at any time and then disappear. This is more so in Yorubaland where the very fabric of the society is been attacked with deliberate viciousness. How can kidnappers try to make traditional rulers their targets? If traditional rulers are not safe in their palaces, who else would be safe in their domains?
In those days, the kaakaki (the heralding trumpet of the oba) was beyond the reach of the robbers. Now both the kaakaki and its owners are targets. A few weeks ago, a whole bus of people travelling from Ekiti to Akure were seized by kidnappers. In Ekiti North, around Ikole, Oye and Omuo, farmers are going about their business with their hearts in their throats! Now it is the turn of the obas to be afraid!
