Still on Olu Falae’s kidnap

As we survey contemporary dynamics in Nigeria, senior citizens are likely to sigh and remark that these are not the times we used to know. Such nostalgia is partly rooted in the spate of kidnappings that continue to bedevil the polity. These days, it is possible to assert that nobody is sacred. Even people of the cloth are violated with impunity for a ransom.

Perhaps the latest in this serial spate of despicable acts was the abduction of no less a person than Oluyemisi Falae, former secretary to the government of the federation and ex-presidential aspirant of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). According to reports, all along there had been a running battle of sorts between Olu Falae and some herdsmen. The latter had consistently encroached on his vast farmlands, and Falae had in turn resisted them. Apparently, the clash between two social forces came to a head with Falae’s abduction.

But there is a wider dimension to this episode. It touches on how to tackle the perennial and explosive issue of grazing zones for herdsmen who happen to hail from a particular sub-national component of our diverse country. There are no easy solutions to this problem. And it is likely to pop up like a recurring decimal in our, shall we say, fragile polity.

On this note, we want the government to think hard and deep on this sensitive issue which has destabilising consequences for the polity. As a first step, the government may wish to draw on the expertise and insights of the increasing number of peace and conflict scholars who, in all probability, have studied this problem.

Equally worrying are the revelations and counter-denials of Olu Falae on one hand and the police authorities on the other. In view of Falae’s subsequent release, the police authorities, as they are wont to, decided to bask in the glory of the venture by claiming responsibility for that seemingly happy outcome. Even the Inspector General of Police made a drama out of the whole thing by his temporary relocation to Ondo State, the scene of the crime. But even before the crowning of the cops came to an end, Falae and his relatives, unconsciously perhaps, stole the thunder from the chest-beating rhetoric of the police when they contended that a ransom of N5 million had been paid to secure Falae’s release from captivity. In turn, the police have countered that they were not privy to such a process. The question then is: who do we believe?

More worrisome is the fact that ransom payment, under the table, is partly responsible for the spate of kidnappings. The despicable act has become something of a cottage industry in which our security agencies continue to be flat-footed.

Even then, the just concluded Olu Falae saga is not an isolated incident. Very much the same dastardly pattern can be observed in the not-too-distant ordeal of the famous lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, who was also kidnapped and subsequently released after the payment of ransom. Again, our security agencies were caught napping.

However, it would be myopic to place the blame entirely on the shoulders of the police. There is definitely a wider dimension to this scourge. The governance credentials of our various authorities at the different levels of government continue to be a disgrace. Across party lines, what has occurred is another form of kidnapping – the kidnapping of the treasury. Kleptocracy in government circles bestrides the land with impunity. Evidently, such a climate has in turn spawned other forms of impunity, like the wave of kidnapping which is the current lot of the polity.

Unfortunately, the fundamental of what is being said here is beyond the understanding of the various status-quo forces. Two examples will suffice. Governors Mimiko and Aregbesola in separate fora contended that there should be more cooperation between the various security forces. It was also suggested that a state of emergency should be declared on this issue. Were it not for the grimness of the situation, we would have laughed off these two suggestions. They are not only shallow; they also mistake the woods for the trees.

Therefore, if we may reiterate, something very negative has happened to the soul of this country, courtesy of the conscienceless plundering and free-loading tactics of our so-called leaders. Should these leaders tread the path of reforms today, then Nigeria would have started to embark on the path of seeing off this scourge.