The seizure of Bagudu Hirse

Last Sunday manifested like the normal opening window of a new week until the early afternoon when news crept in that former envoy and minister of state for Foreign Affairs in the Umaru Yar’Adua administration, Amb. Bagudu Mutle Hirse, had been seized by gunmen in the façade of the building housing Malam Mamman Daura in Kaduna.

My heart skipped and murmured for a short while as I processed the danger he would face in the hands of his fully armed abductors, numbering eight. Amb. Hirse is a family friend and professional colleague. I must have been in a confused state because I put a call to his line and all I got was a disturbing silence. Next, I called some of my former colleagues who worked along with the envoy at The Nigeria Standard where he rose to become the editor of the Sunday title in the late 70s. They all expressed shock.
There were many versions to the kidnap incident. According to one source, the former high commissioner to Namibia was captured by the gunmen who mistook him for Malam Mamman Daura, the nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari. But what do Mamman Daura and Bagudu Hirse have in common? I will tell you. The duo are fair in complexion; they are onetime editors; they are both politicians who love to dress in white attires. But Malam Daura is bearded while Hirse is always clean-shaven. Daura is much older and is from Daura in Katsina state; Hirse is from Mangu in Plateau state.
Mamman Daura was also the editor of New Nigerian Newspapers Limited in the 70s when I joined the paper where I cut my journalism teeth.
Another source said that Amb Hirse was trailed to Daura’s house after paying a condolence visit to the family of the late Sultan Dasuki. I doubt this version. Why trailing him to Daura’s house when they could just pounce on him on the way? Methinks the criminals went hunting for victims at Daura’s environment with a mission to prey on Daura himself or any big fish around him who could have a kidnap value… as the Hausa would say and I quote:

“Ko min abunda a kawo wuri na ni ka wa ne”, meaning all is grit that comes to the mill. Yet another source said the Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abba Kyari, and onetime SDP vice presidential candidate to the late MKO Abiola, Amb. Babagana Kingibe, were also around when the hoodlums struck.
The gunmen were, no doubt, kidnappers. Kidnapping has become one of the most thriving industries in the country today, relegating armed robbery and allied crimes to the backstage. Some bad eggs among the security operatives have also embraced the criminal activities. This is a frightening development.
Until a few years ago when the Niger Delta militants under the aegis of MEND or Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta professionalised kidnapping, the phenomenon was confined to the South-west and was known as “gbomo gbomo”… not to be confused with Gbomo Jomo, the faceless mouthpiece of MEND. Gbomo gbomo in Yoruba means kid abductors. In those days, only kids were easy targets of the crime because they could be lured easily by the criminal elements fronting for ritualists. The victims were either ritualised for money or power.

Today, the preys cut across all social strata, age and gender. Or how does one explain the recent mass abduction of 10 residents of Kuje, a settlement in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja? From the picture taken of the victims after their rescue, none of them had a kidnap value. Were they to be used for ritual purpose then? The ugly crime was even taken to a childish extent a few days ago with the kidnap of a three-year-old girl also in Kuje. Shortly after the disappearance of the hapless kid, a call was put to her father demanding N1, 500 Etisalat recharge card! Was that amount meant for the payoff or to facilitate communication for ransom?
When the father of Nigerian star footballer, John Obi Mikel, was kidnapped in Jos in August 2011 and ferried to Kano, his abductors were asking for $4bn which they considered as a chicken change to the Chelsea star. About the same period, a lady kidnapper was reported as demanding as little as N5, 000 for her own victim’s freedom!
Lately, Kaduna has become a notorious den for the criminal elements. The incidents have become so prevalent that no resident of the town or anyone travelling to that axis can pound his or her chest like a gorilla while leaving home and publicly declare with all certainty that he or she would be back! No one… save those that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High.

The first high profile incident of kidnapping in that state involved the former secretary to the Kaduna state Government, Mr. Waje Yayok, who was abducted near his residence in Kaduna by some 10 armed bandits clad in army camouflage in September, 2009. He was carted to faraway Warri where he spent 10 days before regaining his freedom.
There is no gainsaying the fact that the crime of kidnapping has turned full circle. As stated earlier, kidnapping or hostage taking was a worrisome phenomenon confined to the Niger Delta region where aggrieved youths who were venting their frustration on the government and oil companies for neglecting the goose that lays the golden egg targeted foreign oil workers operating in the axis.
But gradually, the criminality became an attractive trade to those living outside the region. Its rampancy came to an apogee from the late 2000s when top government officials and their spouses, traditional rulers, clerics, movie stars and other prominent citizens came under the criminals’ radars.
What have, however, given impetus to the crime over time are the ransoms their victims’ families and even governments have been paying, some running into several millions of naira. Another attraction is the fact that kidnapping is less risky and more lucrative than armed robbery which is probably why fewer cases of armed banditry are recorded these days.

The failure of successive administrations to generate employment for the army of graduates coupled with the harsh economic environment that led to the collapse or migration of many industries have been largely responsible for the frightening rise in criminal activities. So, the government should fix the economy and provide jobs for the hungry and frustrated youths. A time bomb which is a metaphor for chronic joblessness is not ticking any longer; it is now exploding on our faces!
The abduction of Amb Hirse in the front of Mamman Daura’s house which is supposed to be a secure haven is an indication that no one is safe in this country. Hirse has been in captivity for five days running at the time of writing this piece. His relations and friends have had their hearts in their mouths. Mine is also in my mouth and I don’t like the taste at all!
My prayer is that he will regain his freedom without any further delay and unharmed.