A Democracy Inclined Non-Governmental Organization-Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged the Presidency and the National Security Adviser to the President Colonel Sambo Dasuki [rtd] to launch a transparent and comprehensive investigation of the groundswell of allegations that the police establishment in Anambra State may have some form of partnership with some hardened kidnappers going by the widespread allegations that the Anambra State Command of the Nigerian Police Force charges between N500,000 and N1million from family members of victims of armed kidnappings for the purposes of rescuing them even after payment of ransoms to the violent gangs.
HURIWA said the solution to kidnappings will squarely be actualised if and only if the crime is made less profitable to both the evil practitioners of violent criminal kidnappings and the rogue elements within the security establishment especially the Nigerian Police Force who capitalise on the hysteria and apprehension of the family members of kidnapped persons to extort huge payments under different illegal guises.
The Rights group has also carpeted the National Assembly for abysmally failing to institutionalise state and local policing institutions through the soon-to-be completed constitutional amendment process just as HURIWA said the failure of the legislature at the national and sub-national level to pass the relevant amendment clauses in the extant constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which would have necessitated the establishment of state police to compliment the federal policing institutions means that Nigeria as a corporate entity is not desirous to resolve the growing threats to the territorial integrity of the nation posed by insecurity and armed groups of all affiliations.
HURIWA said it was compelled to alert President Good luck Jonathan about the malpractices going on within the policing institution in Southern Nigeria with specific reference to the widening frontiers of armed kidnappings especially in the South Eastern state of Anambra which has defied all effort by the current Anambra state government to contain the menace including the demolition of housing assets owned by suspected kidnappers resident in Aambra state by the deluge of calls it gets from members of the public. HURIWA wants President Jonathan to sanitize the Nigerian Police force and eradicate all rogue elements that have infiltrated the institution and President would be ensured that posterity would eternally remain appreciative of this legacy of his presidency if achieved.
Condemning as outrageous, criminal and deceitful the alleged demand and receipts of handsome anti-kidnappings ‘service charges’ by the Anambra state police command the Rights group said the fact that the Nigerian Police makes huge profits from the misfortunes of families of kidnapped persons would make the evil practice of armed kidnappings difficult if not impossible to frontally challenged and crushed decisively.
HURIWA in a statement signed jointly by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf advised the Federal Government and the relevant state governments in the South East to conduct a discreet investigation to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of these disturbing allegations which if unchecked could compound the phenomenon of armed kidnappings of Nigerians by suspected hoodlums who allegedly conspire with some rogue elements in the security community to perpetrate these heinous crimes against humanity.
”The Nigerian Government and the relevant state governments in the South whereby these kidnappings have remained unresolved and unchecked should conduct independent investigation by asking some family members [in cameral to avoid recrimination by armed police and their associates in the underworld] of the victims of this dastardly crime of kidnappings to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the claims that they usually come under intense pressure by the security operatives to part with their hard earned money to enable these police and other security agents to launch manhunt for these kidnappers. We have been inundated by many callers who have complained that they were made to cough out huge payments to the police commands especially that of Anambra state ranging from N500,000 to N1 million. These payments are never receipted because they are illegal and these incentives are what motivates these crimes of kidnappings to continue since the men and officers of the Nigerian Police allegedly benefit from the misfortunes of kidnapped Nigerians. The Nigerian state must restore strict discipline within the ranks and file as the most strategic way of ending the persistent cases of kidnappings. President Jonathan should please help Nigerians to end this debilitating and vicious crime that has cost many lives and precious wealth of law abiding Nigerians.”
