Kidnapping for ransom and banditry are the biggest organized or gang crime in Nigeria and are perceived as a national security challenge.
Barely 24 hours after the new acting Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba, vowed to battle banditry and other crimes, kidnappers struck in Ogun, Rivers, Imo and Katsina States on Thursday, abducting 12 people.
According to reports, between Wednesday night and Thursday, 2 persons were kidnapped in Ogun State, 8 in Imo State, 1 in Rivers State and one in Katsina State.
Hunters and vigilantes in Oyo State told newsmen on Thursday that they had started combing forests for six people kidnapped in different parts of the state on Tuesday night.
IGP Baba, shortly after assuming office at the Force Headquarters, Abuja on Wednesday, promised to confront terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and secessionist agitations.
Confirming the abductions, the Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said, “Police detectives are on the trail of the kidnappers.”
He said, “It is condemnable. It is not something we should support. It is something all of us should rise up against including the media and the community because doctors are doing the humanitarian job for the community.”
“There are a lot of security breaches everywhere not just in Ogun State. It is all over our country.”
The Chairman of the Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, Philemon Kingoli was also abducted by gunmen on Wednesday night along the Peter Odili Road in Port Harcourt.
Kingoli was kidnapped at gunpoint while returning from a Peoples Democratic Party event in Okrika.
The spokesman for the state Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni, said the state Police Commissioner, Eboka Friday, had ordered a manhunt for the kidnappers to rescue the local government chairman.
In Imo State, the Traditional Ruler of Umueze Nguru in the Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of the state, Eze Charles Iroegbu was also kidnapped by gunmen on Wednesday night.
It was gathered that the gunmen also kidnapped seven other people in his convoy, including five traditional chiefs and two palace guards.
The monarch, who is the owner and Chief Executive Officer of All States Mass Transit and his cabinet chiefs, were kidnapped after attending a traditional wedding in Mbano.
In Katsina State, a 55-year-old man, Aminu Abdulwahab, who was kidnapped a few days ago in the Danmusa Local Government Area, was killed after his abductors collected a ransom from his family.
