KIDNAPPERS RETURN TO THE SOUTH WEST AND UNDERTAKE NEW ATTACKS

Kidnappings plagued Nigerians in the run-up to the 2023 elections. The kidnappers initially targeted well-to-do and popular celebrities, but after a while, poor people were not spared. Drivers, passengers, students, and artisans who were striving for a living became frequent victims. And may God aid those who do not have the resources or family and friends to pay the ransom.

A case in point is the Ogbomoso case, in which a US citizen, Gbenga Owolabi, who was in the hotel business in Nigeria, was kidnapped and assassinated with a student of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). Ogbomoso, Rachael Opadele, and a motorcycle who delivered the person who brought the ransom during a long strike by the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU). They mistook the ransom bearer and the motorbike for law enforcement personnel disguised to apprehend them.

However, with the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) redesign of naira notes, particularly N1,000, N500, and N200, and the subsequent non-availability of the new notes, Nigerians became financially strained. Survival became difficult. It was also evident in the operations of kidnappers, who went out of business. There was no way they could get non-existent cash as a ransom. Kidnapping became less common as money became scarce. There was not a single incidence reported because cash was not available anywhere in the country.

Most individuals considered the scarcity as a blessing in disguise because it lowered people's dread of being kidnapped. But, as soon as the elections were held, the naira notes began to circulate again, and kidnappings resumed in full force.

In Osun State, for example, two wives of Oba Adetoyese Olakisan, popularly known as Oba Ogboni Agbaye, a prominent traditionalist based in Imesi-lle, were kidnapped. Though one of the ladies was alleged to have escaped the kidnappers, the second, Olori Rashidat Olatipe, was reportedly rescued by a traditional security group from where she was being held prisoner in Aba Paanu, Ikoro-Ekiti, Ekiti State.