•Experts call for new approach to insecurity

By Ola Agbaje

In spite of the present administration’s avowed determination to tackle insecurity, the activities of the men of the underworld witnessed an upsurge in the outgoing year across the country.
While not downplaying the appreciable success recorded in the fight against the Boko Haram terror group in the North-East, kidnappers, cultists, cattle rustlers, armed robbers, vandals, drug traffickers, fraudsters, especially Internet scammers, also known as Yahoo-yahoo Boys, have held the nation by the jugular.
In the South and parts of North-Central, especially in Kwara and Kogi states, cultists seemed to have overwhelmed the security agencies.
It should be noted that some of the criminals are into everything to eke a living. For example, some engaged in kidnapping, armed robbery and cultism, while others combined cattle rustling with kidnapping as witnessed in states like Benue, Bauchi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, Kano, Plateau, Adamawa, Kebbi and Kogi, among others.

Highlights of kidnappings in 2016
As early as January, the traditional ruler of Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State, Obi Akaeze Christopher Ofulue, was kidnapped and murdered. His body was later found in a bush after several weeks of search.
On February 29, 2016, kidnappers stormed Babington Macaulay College, Ikorodu, Lagos, a private boarding school, and abducted three female students. The pupils were released after about a week and payment of undisclosed ransom.
In April, the Vicar-General of the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, Benue State, Rev. Father John Adeyi, was kidnapped.  He was killed by his abductors after collecting N2 million ransom. His decomposed body was found at Odoba village in Otukpo area.
The ordeal of clerics in the hands of kidnappers continued in Dutse, Jigawa State, with the kidnap of Rev. Yakubu Dsanma, Rev. Emmanuel Dziggan and Rev. Illiya Anthony in March.  The gang was later smashed by the Nigeria Police Intelligence Response Team, led by CSP Abba Kyari.  The suspects, Kashimu Shehu, Aliyu Mato, Muhammadu Mamman, Hassan Bello, Bala Mohammed and Ishaku Kabiru, allegedly confessed to the crime.
Also, the wife of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Margaret Emefiele, was abducted along the Benin-Agbor Road. She was later released after her abductors were overwhelmed by security agencies.
Gunmen stormed the palace of the ruler of Iba town, Lagos State, Oba Yushau Oseni, on July 16, 2016, shot his wife and killed his security guard before whisking him away. He was released after three weeks. It was later revealed that the gang collected N15 million ransom.
Similarly, a schoolboy, Musa Salisu, 11, was kidnapped on June 6, in Kano. He was murdered by his abductors.
The activities of criminals continued with the abduction of four landlords in September in the Lekki area of Lagos. The assailants demanded N300 million. The victims were released after the payment of an undisclosed amount as ransom.
Similarly, four pupils (three boys, one girl), a teacher and the vice principal of Junior Model College, Igbonla, Epe, in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State, were kidnapped by gunmen on October 6, 2016, during the morning assembly. They were later released after payment of ransom.
Shortly after, four landlords in Isheri, a boundary town between Lagos and Ogun states, were abducted while they were jogging.
Former Minister of the Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Mallam, and her husband were kidnapped recently in Kaduna while an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Mr. Nnamdi Abbah, was kidnapped in Aleka in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State on October 12, 2016.
Similarly, the Director of Information in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State, Bola Oshin and daughter were abducted in Shagamu. They regained their freedom after some days. However, Ikenna Osuji, an undergraduate was not as lucky as he was killed by his abductors even after ransom was paid in August.
Even former President Goodluck Jonathan was not spared as his uncle, Inengite Nitabai, was kidnapped, twice.  One of Jonathan’s relations, said to be his cousin, Samuel Ojei, who was taken at the same time as Nitabai, was killed and dumped in a river near Otuoke in Bayelsa State.
Former Super Eagle coach, Samson Siasia, had an encounter with kidnappers through his mother, Mrs. Beauty Siasia, who was abducted in Odoni community in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The 72-year-old woman was later released after 12 days.
The list of kidnapping incidents in the country is virtually exhaustible; the crime has become very commonplace and lucrative.

Cattle rustlers
Cattle rustlers, who many believed are majorly from neighbouring Mali and Niger republics, have rendered several thousands homeless as they attacked villages in Benue, Kogi, Niger, Bauchi, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kwara.
The bloody activities of cattle rustlers claimed the lives of thousands of rural dwellers in 2016.  Hundreds of cattle rearers have been rendered destitute as the rampaging cattle rustlers with the aid of automatic rifles have been stealing their cattle in their thousands.
So far, there seems to be no end to the bloody activities of the rustlers.

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Cultism
In Rivers and other states in the South-South, South-West and parts of the North Central (Kwara and Kogi), cultists have made life miserable for many people, especially in the cities.
Unarguably, Rivers topped the chart as the state has witnessed ‘rivers of blood’ due to killings by cultists in the battle for supremacy, political gain and robbery.  Several kidnappings in the state have been traced to cultists.
The gang that murdered Ebubedike Wabali, an APC chieftain in the state, was led by two cult leaders in Ikwere Local Government Area, who were recently granted amnesty by the state government.
On August 29, 2016, Port Harcourt-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Ken Atsuwete, was killed by suspected cultists.
Daring cultists in October attacked a police station, killed Sergeant Tunde Ojekanmi and carted away arms and ammunition. The leader of the Iceland cult group, simply identified as Shina Rambo, who led the attack, later died from gunshot injuries he sustained during the operation.
In Lagos State, cultists have continued to terrorise several areas, including Agege, Ebute Metta, Shomolu, Lagos Island, Onipanu, Mushin and Ajegunle.
In tertiary institutions across the South, several youths have been sent to their early graves in cult-related killings.

Drug trafficking
In spite of the huge risks, including the death penalty for offenders in several countries, Nigerians continued to traffic illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroine and Indian hemp, among others.
No fewer than 158 Nigerians are reportedly awaiting execution for drug-related offences in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. At least, 120 of the deathrow convicts are in China while 30 are in Malaysia;  40 per cent of convicts arrested for drug-related offences in Malaysia are Nigerians. In Indonesia, three of the eight men convicted for drugs offences and executed recently were Nigerians.
On the domestic front, several acres of Indian hemp have been discovered and destroyed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Ekiti, Delta, Edo and Osun states, among others.
Despite several arrests made daily at the nation’s airports, drug traffickers appear unrelenting.

Militancy/vandalism
The activities of militants and vandals in the oil-rich Niger Delta all but crippled the nation’s crude oil production in 2016. Through persistent bombing of oil pipelines, the militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, was able to reduce crude oil prduction to an all-time low, which, coupled with the decline in the price of crude oil in the international market, took Nigeria’s economy to the verge of collapse.

Prospects for 2017
To overcome the security challenges facing the country as highlighted above, security experts have called for a shift of focus in intelligence.
Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, speaking recently in Lagos, noted that through intelligence, the police and other security agencies would be proactive rather than reactive.
Idris noted that intelligence-driven policing, which involves synergy between the people and the security agents on one hand and between various security agencies on the other hand would guarantee a safer society.
“To achieve this, we need to work together with inter-agencies.  We must share intelligence while we must also collaborate with our neighbouring countries,” he said.
Comptroller of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babatunde, also agreed with the IGP, saying that intelligence gathering was pivotal to the security of the nation’s borders.
According to Babatunde, “Many of our children are being trafficked to neighbouring countries for child labour and sex slavery, if there were proper intelligence, the crime would have been nipped in the bud.”
He explained that intelligence remains a key aspect of solving the security challenges of the country.
The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), alarmed at the upsurge of kidnappings in 2016, described it as a national menace that has negatively impacted on the society and the economic life of the country.
The guild, in a communiqué issued in Yola, Adamawa State, at the end of its meeting recently, noted that the scourge of kidnapping, if not checked, would drive foreign investors away.
Consequently, the NGE called on the Federal Government to rejig the various security agencies.

Employment
Provision of employment has been identified as major plank in the prevention of crime, as most of the suspects arrested for kidnapping, cultism and armed robbery were unemployed graduates.