By Andrew Ajijah, Jos
The rate at which people are being kidnapped in Plateau state, central Nigeria is alarming, and has become cause of concern, as no one seems secured.
Two prominent traditional rulers recently fell prey to kidnappers, a second class chief of Gindiri, the Sum-Pyem, Charles Mato Dakat in Mangu LGA was whisked away, huge amount was said to have been paid to secure his release.
Similarly, a distract head of Vwang, Jos South LGA, the Gwom Rwey of Vwang District, Da Gyang Gutt Balak was kidnapped in Kuru, a week ago; though he was lucky enough, he stayed with his abductors for just about 48 hours before he regained freedom, ransom was also paid.
Days before the kidnap of the Vwang district head; the wife of the deputy chief of staff to the deputy governor’s office was kidnapped at the gate of her residence in Jos, but she was rescued by joint security operatives of police and the special taskforce on Jos crisis, known as Operation Safe Haven.
The wife of the Deputy Chief of Staff was rescued alongside a medical doctor who was earlier abducted.
A day after the wife of the deputy chief of staff was rescued, three students of the Plateau state polytechnic Barkinladi were also abducted near the main campus of the polytechnic at Heipang. However, they were equally rescued the next day unhurt, according to police.
“The team of police deployed to rescue the victims kidnapped at Ban village behind the Plateau state polytechnic have rescued them today 13/1/2022 at about 1430hrs unhurt.” PPRO Gabriel Ogabah, an ASP stated.
A two time local government council chairman of Shendam LGA Mr. Kemi Nshe was snatched on the eve of year 2022 in his compound in Shendam town while holding a meeting with political associates at about 8:00pm.
Mr. Kemi was kidnapped alongside his friend, the chairperson of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASSU, Plateau state University Bokkos.
Family and friends of Kemi paid a 17 million naira ransom to secure their release from the kidnappers after 12 days in captivity.
Though, efforts by security operatives towards tackling the menace seem to be yielding positive results, because it’s on record that 11 out of the 26 suspected criminals including the murderer of the 300 level female student of the University of Jos, arrested for various crimes, paraded before news in Jos a week ago were fingered as kidnappers.
Governor of Plateau Simon Lalong through his Director of Press and public affairs Dr. Makut Simon Macham, commended the efforts of the security agencies towards curbing the menace.
Dr. Makut in a press statement recently said he was glad with the action of the security operatives in curbing the menace.
“Governor Simon Bako Lalong has commended security personnel in the state for rising up to occasion and thwarting the attempts by kidnappers to create fear among citizens.
“Governor Lalong in a message said he was glad that the swift response of the security forces to distress calls of kidnap incidents led to the dislocation of their operations leading to rescue of some victims and arrest of suspects.
“The governor urged the security agencies which include the police, DSS, Operation Safe Haven, Operation Rainbow, NSCDC, other paramilitary agencies and vigilante groups to sustain the heat on the criminals, assuring that the government will do everything possible to continue to provide support for them to flush out kidnappers and other criminals from the state.”
“He also assured that he will not hesitate to sign the death warrant for any convicted kidnapper,” the statement stressed.
