The Kidnappers

By Dr. Nathaniel Nwadiogbu

Kidnapping is a crime that was alien to Nigeria until recently when the youths of the oil-rich Niger Delta Region began to use it as a political weapon to register agitation against economic marginalization by the Federal Government. It was subsequently hijacked and downgraded by criminals in other parts of the Country who used it as an easy tool for illegal acquisition of wealth.

The kidnappers, therefore, x-rays the origin of the crime, its impact on Nigerian polity and the measures the Federal Government adopted to curb it. This is a story that points an accusing finger on the Society as the major cause of numerous crimes (including kidnapping) perpetrated by man against humanity. To instil godliness in a people, the Society must, therefore, be restructured aright.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456787752

Dr. Nathaniel Nwadiogbu

Dr. Nathaniel Udeozor Nwadiogbu is a medical practitioner with special gift in writing. His writing experience dated as far back as his Secondary School years when he wrote radio plays for Anambra Broadcasting Corporation, Anambra State Nigeria. Some of the plays written by him included My Greatest Mistake and Boomerang. He is also the author of The Death of Justice published by Authorhouse U.K. in 2010. Dr. Nathaniel Nwadiogbu holds a degree in General Medicine from Friendship University, Moscow, Russia and also a Post Graduate Diploma in Hospital Management from Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos, Nigeria. He is married to Mrs. Rita Nwadiogbu, a chartered Insurer, and they have three lovely children two boys and a girl. He lives with his family in Lagos Nigeria.

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© 2011 Dr. Nathaniel Nwadiogbu. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse  09/01/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-8774-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-8775-2 (ebk)

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CONTENTS

1 THE ORIGIN

2 THE INJUSTICE AND INITIATION INTO A CULT

3 CULT ACTIVITIES

4 FORMATION OF THE RED CAT

5 THE KIDNAPPING 1

6 THE KIDNAPPING 2

7 THE KIDNAPPING 3

8 U-TURN

9 TRANSFORMATION INTO A LIBERATION MOVEMENT

10 RECONCILIATION, RECONSTRUCTION AND REHABILITATION

"Crimes of which a people is

ashamed constitute its real history.

The same is true of man."

- Jean Genet (1910 – 1986)

INTRODUCTION

Crime such as Kidnapping is a predatory act of criminality perpetrated by man against humanity. It is often used by hardened criminals as a tool for acquisition of wealth. Questions arise. Did God create such criminals as criminals or is it an acquired trait? If we were all born normal, at what point did some people become criminals? What made them criminals? Are criminal tendencies genetically transferable from one person to another?

To answer the above questions, I studied the life of a hardened criminal who inflicted enormous pains on his fellow human beings. I followed him up from his childhood, to his school years and finally to his adulthood. I saw a promising child with great dreams and determination to achieve them. I saw how a crooked society shattered the great dreams and remoulded him into a monster with little or no milk of human kindness for his fellow human beings. I saw how evil associations quickly turned him away from his great aspirations. He finally ended up as a dreaded kidnapper.

As I studied the life of this criminal, Sunny Boy, I came to a conclusion that the ‘godliness’ in a man hardly dies no matter how hard it is suppressed. By ‘godliness’ I mean those attributes that enable a person to co-exist peacefully and in amity with his fellow human beings. These attributes are inherent in man from creation. But societal mores and values can influence them and sometimes suppress them to a level where they are no longer noticeable in an individual. That was what happened to Sunny Boy. But they were only suppressed!

When he travelled abroad, he encountered a different societal influence which impacted positively on him. The ‘godliness’ in him began to ‘resurrect’. He came to himself and finally repented.

This is a story that points an accusing finger on the Society as the root cause of numerous crimes perpetrated by man against humanity. To instil godliness in a people, the Society must be restructured aright. By Society I mean the body of opinions and actions formed or inspired mainly by government policies or influences and norms of classes of a people living in a particular geographical environment. It represents the moulding factor of human behaviours in a particular environment. A bad Society ultimately gives birth to criminals and people of low virtue.

Dr. Nathaniel Nwadiogbu

SQUEAKY-CLEAN

Man, God created squeaky-clean!

Yes! None is born a criminal!

Those that among us today exist;

The filth in their soul, the crimes that manifest;

The wickedness and ungodliness that in them exist;

Are nothing but fruits of a depraved society!

A Society- decent and sound;

That which is yet to be but alive in the mind

Will nothing but nurture and package man

Adorning him in apparel, holy and stainless;

Purging him of wickedness and every ungodliness,

That he, ultimately, immaculate appears!

Dr. Nathaniel Nwadiogbu

1

THE ORIGIN

He who brings ant- infested firewood into his house must be prepared to host all manners of bird.

On the richly designed metal gate that separated Chief Robert’s compound from other compounds in Richmond Street hung a coloured poster on which was boldly inscribed ‘OBITUARY’. The poster had been hanging there for over a month. On a close view at it, it announced the passing away of Chief Robert Ola and the upcoming funeral ceremony scheduled at a later date.

Chief Robert was an influential politician who retired from the Civil Service as a Commandant in the Nation’s Custom Services. He participated actively in the then concluded Presidential Campaign that saw his candidate into the Presidential Seat. He was respected not only as a pillar in his ruling Party but as a political tactician.

Tall, lanky and always dressed in a traditional Ankara jumper, Chief Robert portrayed a fragile harmless mien. His ever smiling youthful face endeared him to many people some of who erroneously took him to be weak and indecisive, only to be amazed by his strong will-power and determination at close interactions with him. With his money and influence in the Country he believed that he was already an institution his people could not do without.

He was married to Margaret - a daughter of an influential businessman through whose connection he secured the appointment in the Custom Services. A retired University lecturer; she was a big support to her husband especially in his political escapades. She had three children – two boys and a girl who were living abroad. Two of them had already graduated from the University and had secured employments in the United Kingdom. All efforts by their father to convince them to return home and take over the management of his business outfits yielded no fruit. They had sounded it loud and clear to their father that they were not willing to come back to Nigeria where, according to them, nothing was working. Chief Robert was sad for that and continued to regret ever sending them abroad to study.

He was not only rich but his influence cut across all States and Regions in the Country. He amassed so much wealth while in office as the Commandant that it became obvious that corruption must have played a dominant role. He was considered one of the richest in his State. He had landed Properties in choice locations in many States of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory. He was also into Crude Oil business which was exclusively reserved for the rich and mighty in the Country. His petrol filling stations adorning the Commercial cities of almost all the States were easily identified by the colourful logo designed with an image of a soaring Eagle in a blue sky and the familiar name ‘Robsat Oil’ conspicuously inscribed on the bill boards positioned in front of all his filling Stations.

Chief Robert enjoyed the best the Country could afford – riches and affluence but unfortunately became a victim of the Frankenstein Monster which he participated in giving birth to. It was on record that during the political campaigns he recruited school drop-outs and trained them as his political thugs. It was also alleged that he equipped them with dangerous weapons to carry out his evil assignments. He became so powerful that his political opponents were in constant fear of their lives and properties. That necessitated them to also recruit their own thugs in other to match force with force. That was how thuggery became an integral part of the political system in the Country.

After political campaigns, those thugs made up of mostly jobless youths and school drop-outs were thrown into the streets and many of them ended up as armed robbers only to be recruited again during subsequent political campaigns. The politicians who lost out during the elections also made use of them to further their political agenda such as destabilisation of the incumbent government while pretending to be on the side of the masses. It was not rare to see them champion agitation for improved amenities in the State using those brain-washed thugs who poured into the streets destroying government and private properties in the process thereby making the State ungovernable.

The emergence of political thugs became the reason for serious security problems in the Country. It soon metamorphosed into a more organised political tools for sectional agitation against marginalisation of the oil-rich States in the Country and deadly criminal outfits. Criminal-minded jobless University undergraduates and graduates as well as dubious professionally trained military men in other States hijacked the evil trade and modified it not only for money-making but also for settling personal scores. They became terrors to influential and wealthy citizens who often displayed their ill-gotten wealth to the chagrin of the impoverished masses. They often kidnapped such influential personalities and demanded huge ransoms before they were released. Those who survived the torture at their detention camps had their God to thank but few captives like Chief Robert were not as lucky. Apart from the huge ransom collected by the deadly gang, Chief Roberts was not released alive. His corpse was found by the road side near his house five days after his disappearance from his house.

Story had it that he was relaxing one evening when some armed men broke into his house and whisked him off to an unknown destination. It was initially not clear for what purpose he was whisked away until few hours later when the kidnappers, using Chief Robert’s phone, called his wife.

‘Is that Mrs. Robert?’ An unfamiliar voice from the other end asked. Mrs. Robert was apprehensive not only because the voice at the other end sounded strange, harsh and unfriendly but using her husband’s phone to call her spelt doom.

Who are you, please? She asked cautiously.

‘You want to know who I am. Now wait and speak to your husband’. She heard the tread of brisk footsteps on a grassy floor. It took about a minute before the steps slowed down and she could hear the voice telling her husband: ‘You are going to speak to your wife. Be fast about it. I’ve got no time to waste.’ From the sound of the footsteps and the time it took to give the phone to her husband, she concluded that her husband must have been detained probably in a bush or an uncompleted building in another room different from where the speaker was. The voice spoke again: ‘Are you still there?’

Yes, I am still waiting, Mrs. Robert replied calmly. The phone was handed over to her husband. He sounded weak and sick.

‘Darling, it is me. Please listen. They said I must provide fifty million Naira before I will be released. We have been arguing over that amount of money but they are not prepared to shift ground. I am dying here. Please see if you can raise the money as soon as possible.’

Before she could reply her husband, one of his captors snatched the phone from him and began to speak to her: ‘Listen, Madam if you want your husband alive you must go now and look for the money. Call this number when you have gotten the money. Let me warn you seriously that you must not go to the Police. If you do that, you sentence your husband to instant death. Do you understand me?’

Can I still talk to him for a moment? Mrs. Robert pleaded calmly.

‘No way! Do what you have been told. Call us back when the money is ready and we will tell you how to hand it over to us.’ He immediately terminated the discussion and switched off the phone. Mrs. Robert attempted to call back but the phone was already switched off. She then knew that her husband was held by kidnappers and might not be able to survived prolonged torture by his captors. He was a chronic Hypertensive and Diabetic on regular medications. His recent chest x-ray was not encouraging as it showed advanced stage of Hypertensive Heart Disease with signs of cardiac decompensation. He was warned by his doctor to take his medications regularly to avoid sudden heart failure. Being detained without his drug would be very injurious to his frail health. She had to act fast to save her husband’s life.

Though she was warned not to inform the police, there was no way such an influential person would be kidnapped and police would not know. Among his friends were top police officers and power brokers in the society. It was even unimaginable that a gang could muster enough courage to do what they did to a person of Chief Robert’s calibre.

The news of Chief Robert’s disappearance was all over the Newspapers. The Commissioner of Police issued a statement denouncing the criminal act and promising that the culprits would be fished out. Many people did not take him serious since it was not the first time in recent times he had made such an empty promise without resultant success.

Mrs. Robert consulted her husband’s friends and they agreed that the best thing to do was to pay the ransom and get Chief released as soon as possible. Waiting for Police to act would delay the matter and even complicate issues especially in a situation where the Police was not adequately equipped to handle such cases. It did not take long before his friends met and raised a total sum of fifty million Naira demanded by the kidnappers.

On the third day after the disappearance of Chief Robert, the money was made available. Mrs. Robert had to call the captors to inform them that she had raised the money. She tried several times to get in touch with them with her husband’s phone number but there seemed to be network failure. The call could not go through. Before she went to bed that night she tried again and there was luck. A male baritone voice snapped at the other end: ‘Who is that?’

I am Mrs. Robert. My husband is with you. The money is available now. How do I get it across to you?

‘We will call you early in the morning tomorrow and give you instructions on what to do. If you still want to see your husband alive make sure that Police is not involved in this deal. So, wait for my call tomorrow morning’, the criminal answered.

The Commissioner had earlier insisted that there was no way Police would not be involved in a case involving a man of Chief Robert’s status. He even promised to handle the case by himself and assured Mrs. Robert time without number that Police would not let her down. That was not enough to change her position because it was not the first time she had heard such assurance from the Police since her husband was kidnapped yet nothing meaningful had been done to secure his release. Realising how unprofessional Police could be in matters of that nature, she appealed to the Commissioner of Police not to get his men involved in the case for the sake of the safety of her husband. Like every other person in the Country, she had no confidence in the Police. The Commissioner had no other option than to back out.

She had made up her mind to do it alone as instructed by the captors. She woke up very early that morning. The money was already packed in three cartons and properly sealed with adhesive tapes. She held her handset tight as she awaited the