Kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal activities have continued unabated in some states of the federation despite billions of naira invested by governments of the states on granting amnesty to various armed groups, LEADERSHIP Sunday checks has revealed. Taking a cue from the federal government’s amnesty programme in the Niger Delta, to curtail militancy in…
Kidnapping, armed robbery and other criminal activities have continued unabated in some states of the federation despite billions of naira invested by governments of the states on granting amnesty to various armed groups, LEADERSHIP Sunday checks has revealed.
Taking a cue from the federal government’s amnesty programme in the Niger Delta, to curtail militancy in the oil rich Niger Delta region, some governors granted amnesty to kidnappers and armed robbers in their respective states in a bid to tackle the security challenges
The states include Benue, Katsina, Abia, Imo and Rivers, among others.
But findins by our correspondents revealed that the amnesty programme has failed to achieve the desired results in the various states, the billions of naira invested in it notwithstanding.
The governors had requested the armed groups to surrender their weapons in return for amnesty, which usually entails that the repentant criminals also get some cash rewards.
Our correspondents gathered, however, that some of the criminals deliberately surrendered lesser weapons, while keeping more sophisticated ones.
In Benue, a cross section of residents who spoke to this paper described the state’s amnesty programme as a waste of resources.
The state governor, Samuel Ortom, recently accused one of the beneficiaries of the amnesty and a wanted gang leader, Terwase Akwaza, of using the amnesty programme as a cover up for criminal activities.
Ortom said the gang leader was not sincere when he surrendered the weapons, even as he vowed that criminals would be apprehended with the present support of President Muhammadu Buhari to the state.
He appealed to the people to always give timely information to security agencies to enable them apprehend criminals in their hideouts, stressing that the agencies need the cooperation of the citizenry.
The governor recently announced an upward review of N10 million reward for anyone who volunteered information leading to the arrest of the wanted criminal, Akwaza, aka Gana who was the first beneficiary of the amnesty programme.
Assessing the amnesty programme in Benue State, an Igbo trader who has been residing in the state for the past 45 years, said the amnesty program is a total failure because what people in the state had been witnessing of recent did not happen when there was no amnesty.
He lamented that criminal activities like cultism, kidnapping and child trafficking were now on the high side in the state.
He said, “Let me tell you, whether we like it or not, there is no security here in Benue. Look at the kind of killings that are going on in some of the local governments in the state. Innocent farmers are being killed in their farms and homes while asleep. Is that security? It is not even up to one month when I heard that two children belonging to one man around modern market area were kidnapped for rituals. Many people have lost their children like that here.
“In those days, we used to leave our children in the house and just inform our neighbour that we are travelling and you will still come back and meet your children in healthy condition. But this time around who can do that? Everybody is living in fear.”
John Sarse, a business man described the Amnesty programme in Benue State as a plot to disarm the Benue citizens for the Fulani herdsmen to continue killing them helplessly.
He said, “How can the governor introduce amnesty programme in a state like Benue where Fulani herdsmen are every where? Only the indegenes of the state surrendered their arms during the programme. No Fulani man or other tribes residing here have been arrested for acquiring illegal weapons.
“All the herdsmen are going about freely with their AK47 in the name of cattle rearing, raping women in their farms at gun point and killing innocent farmers in their farms and even attacking people in their houses while asleep. Ortom should stop making us vulnerable for the enemies to attack and kill us like flies.”
A top government official who pleaded anonymity queries the lopsided nature of the amnesty programme, saying it is only focus on a particular people in the state, with all the weapons being recovered from one side.
In Abia
Between 2009 and 2010, Abia State was almost a pariah state as Kidnappers and armed robbers held the state hostage. They almost destroyed the economy of the state which relies on commerce and industry.
Their activities became so awful that investors, both public and private, started leaving Aba, the commercial city of the state and its environs in droves.
Unconfirmed estimate pegs the loss to kidnappers and armed bandits at N25 billion as they robbed banks and business outfits, kidnapped expatriate construction workers, industrialists and school children.
The then Governor of the state, Senator Theodore Orji, after exhausting every avenue, including providing logistic support for the Police to assist them contain the criminals, tried the Amnesty option.
He granted amnesty to kidnappers who surrendered their weapons and embraced peace. In what appeared to be a break through, the commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and a legal practitioner led a delegation of repentant Kidnappers who said they were ready to accept the governor’s offer.
Imo State
Imo State which is one of the nine states of the oil bearing Niger Delta region has akso suffered series of crime waves, ranging from armed robbery, wanton murder and assassination, kidnapping and abduction of innocent individuals, especially those assumed to be stupendously wealthy.
Although the state has consistently assisted security agencies in the performance of their duties through the provision of modern sophisticated security gadgets and even going the extra mile to float a number of security outfits such as community policing, Imo Security Network and sundry vigilance groups, criminality has continued unabated.
