[Editorial] Kidnapped Victims And Failure Of Security Agencies

Anyone who has watched the latest video released by the abductors of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers showing the abductees undergoing torture in the hands of the terrorists would have no choice but to cry for the deplorable state of insecurity in Nigeria.

That President Muhammadu Buhari, his security chiefs, leaders of his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) can conveniently and comfortably ignore the plight of the abductees who have been in captivity since March, 2022 when the train was bombed by the terrorists leaving some passengers dead and many abducted speaks volumes of the attitude of our national leadership.

In the past weeks, some of the abductees had been released only after some humongous amount of money was paid as ransom.  The batch of seven or so abductees released a fortnight ago were set free after the sum of N800million had been paid by their families.

One intriguing part of the whole kidnap for ransom episode with respect to the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers abduction remains the fact that the kidnappers have been operating with ease. That the abductors could safely take video photographs of their victims under torture and release the video to the public space unmindful of the fact that they could be traced speaks of the inexplicable suspicion that government could have a hand in the kidnap saga.

The audacity of the abductors in calling the shots from their unidentified haven and giving no qualms about what may be consequences of their action strongly lends credence to the story making the rounds in military circle that the Nigerian leadership has a hand in the heinous acts of terrorists.

The resignation of some Nigerian soldiers in recent time ostensibly due to their lack of confidence in the national leadership and the subsequent dismissal of soldiers by the authorities due to what has been regarded as disloyalty are strong indicators that the headship of security agencies and national leadership seem to be complicit in the whole thing.

Otherwise, how possible could it be that in a nation that prides herself with thousands of ‘experts’ both in private and public security for a gang of brigands abduct some citizens and have gone to extract some millions from the abductees’ families through  intimidation with threat of death.

We wish to say that the scenario as it is today would have caused some resignation of the President, security agents and some cabinet ministers in a saner clime but not so in our environment where  impunity rules.

Now that lives of those victims of kidnappers are under

serious threats, the Federal Government should apply every might and caution to secure the safe release of the victims