Ajegwu-Idah: Story of 34 km road ‘governed’ by kidnappers
Terrain The Ajegwu-Idah road links four local governments in Kogi State namely Ofu, Igalamela/Odolu, Idah and Ibaji, and is regularly traversed by some 2 million persons. It rises and falls in a graceful sequence all the way to Idah, which grants you a good view of the surrounding country, including the powerful Niger over which […]
Terrain
The Ajegwu-Idah road links four local governments in Kogi State namely Ofu, Igalamela/Odolu, Idah and Ibaji, and is regularly traversed by some 2 million persons. It rises and falls in a graceful sequence all the way to Idah, which grants you a good view of the surrounding country, including the powerful Niger over which the Igalas ruled a long time ago, and they were then the undisputed lords of the river. It is an irony that the activities of kidnappers along a 34 kilometre road, is weakening the economy and has become a nightmare to a people whose forebears once governed vast swathes of the big river, did battle with Benin as well as the Jukun, and extended their sway over many parts of what is now Nigeria’s South East.
Many cashew plantations dot both sides of the winding road, and this is part of its wealth for the trade yields billions of naira annually, but this has been weakened by incidents of kidnapping which scares some of the investors who usually travel down to Idah and neighbouring areas such as Igalamela, and Dekina, to buy the crop in bulk. Now, they have to employ the services of middle men as a way out. Kidnappings frequently occur along the Ajegwu-Idah road, and parts of it are referred to by locals as ‘kidnap spots’. Two such spots have been identified. One is at Ukunube, and the other is at Eyele. Many have been kidnapped at these ‘spots’ and huge ransoms are paid to effect their release.
The landscape left and right of the Ajegwu-Idah road is a series of valleys and richly forested areas, as the road wends its way across 34 kilometres to Idah, the cultural capital of the Igalas. It is in truth a very short stretch of road, which security forces have not been able to police. The locals laugh at this singular incapacity, and they are not surprised that a Naval officer was kidnapped along the road sometime last year. Bank managers and businessmen have been abducted, as well as the parents of wealthy sons and daughters of Idah, with ransoms running into millions of naira. The kidnappers are quite daring, and the forests have also become a capital of sorts for the group, who take their victims deep into these green fortresses, which sometimes involve long walks of several days for both victim and captor.There is the popular story of an elderly lady who was carried by her kidnappers on their backs in the forest, because she was too weak to walk. They took turns carrying her in this way until they got to their hideout.
Origins
“Past governments encouraged thuggery in the state. Thugs were armed and were getting government patronage by way of largesse, without them doing anything. These young men were thrown into the cold by the politicians, after arming them and using them for violent activities. They had no other option but to take to the path of criminality. This explains the high level of robbery and criminality in the town and along the road. All these create economic hardship. When people don’t have a genuine source of livelihood, they resort to crime. There have been instances when people are cooking food on the fire, and people go and steal the undone food, and go away with it. Its that bad, “says Ado, while commenting on the roots of kidnapping in the community. He also shed light on the infrastructural problems in Idah and environs “There is an acute power problem. There are bad roads as well as a high level of erosion especially in the Angwa area. There are rivers all around Idah, but despite this water is sought by everybody, especially those who cannot afford to sink boreholes. There is a profound power problem, which has thrown many out of jobs. Even the refrigerator technicians, when there is no power, how can they repair a refrigerator?” On the roots of kidnapping, another respondent adds “It is socio-economic. If you look at the history of the place, a lot of political actors had recruited thugs who had a lot of monetary expectations, and at a point the thugs were stranded, and they had to resort to newer ways of maintaining their lifestyle. This is how they began a life revolving around acts of kidnapping. Again, there is no alternative in terms of education, people see education as being irrelevant because people who don’t go to school, somehow end up living flamboyant lives. People now ask why go to school? It is a tragedy and we are going to live with it for a very long time.”
A security consultant comments “About five years ago, kidnapping became an issue. A young man who came in from the US was kidnapped during Christmas, and this created a lot of panic in the town. This situation is creating problems for many of our sons and daughters who should actually come home freely. You get surprised at the way crime is growing, not just in Idah but society generally.” Yusuf Ameadaji, the Achadu (Prime Minister) of Igala Kingdom, opines ‘kidnappers are looking for money’, and he avers that a good number of them are ‘hired killers’, reasoning ‘If jobs are provided, that would be a way out.’ Ahmed Tanko (not real name) a former local government chairman, opens up on the situation “What is reigning in Idah now is cultism. Some of the cultists are not old enough to be in higher institutions. Only few of them are students who graduated from higher institutions, and some of them are just finishing from secondary schools. I don’t know how they got into cultism. Maybe that is as a result of youth restiveness and unemployment.” A woman leader in the community adds “In the primary schools, you find children who have joined cults, because their parents did not train them well. Some girls are in the cults too. When they are moving round, we hide in our rooms and we see them.”
“When there is electricity supply, a lot of economic activities can be carried out, and there are many occupational groups that solely depend on power, either solely or partially to be in business. So, when this power is not there, they become idle or they become unemployed, and some among them, probabaly in frustration will think of all sorts of things, including crime. A nexus can also be established between this drop in power supply and the rise in criminality,” says Dr. Abubakar Kari, of the Department of Sociology, University of Abuja while examining the frequent power outages and incidents of kidnapping in Idah. He says “When there is no light, life becomes monotonous and dull and people don’t know what to do, and they resort to all sorts of things.”
‘B.A Thuggery’
On kidnapping, Kari posits “Kogi State is one of those states where politicians use thugs, and these politicians don’t have much money to give now. All these cult groups are either directly or indirectly run by them.” He explains “It’s an industry which politicians set up, and they use them to harass opponents, to rig elections and to intimidate people. The youths are ready to do that, because in most cases they are jobless, they are dropouts,and again the quality of our schools also contributes to this situation. You discover that primary and secondary schools produce people who are more or less, illiterate. Because of the quality of facilities and teachers today, even going to school is not a solution to the problem. They don’t learn anything because of poor facilities, coupled with unqualified teachers, and they graduate as thugs.Rather than acquire education. They now acquire thuggery.”
Forward
“We need to create sources of employment and emphasise education as well. This is one way to tackle kidnapping,”says Janet Jibrin while answering a question on solutions to the spate of kidnappings. Aromeh Sule (not real name) argues “Government has to do more in terms of youth empowerment, and youth programmes, and to do a whole lot of things for the youth ,so that they will be able to know that they are the leaders of tomorrow. I think there is a compromise along the way. Some of the youth don’t even know the reason for their existence, and find themselves in these vices. Most of these crimes are perpetrated through this kind of gangsterism, when they come together to plan things that are not going to have positive impact on their lives.” According to him “Security will do its best, but it is reactive. When security becomes reactive, its not going to work.Security should be preventive. The role of security is to prevent the occurrence, and how do they do this? They can do this by being practical. Intelligence gathering is very important with the community. The very notorious axis of evil is at a village called Ukunube which is on the hilly side of the road.Most of the time as the unsuspecting passengers drive in, they are caught and taken.”He advises “The government should step up the joint patrol team in that axis. If that is done it will bring a lot of sanity to the area. They should engage communities.Some of them have this information, but if they are not properly engaged for fear of reprisals from the criminals, they may not like to open up.” He warns “We have reports of security agents who have been working with the kidnappers. Goverment should think about how people are recruited into the police.”
Sule says “I am of the opinion that there must be good education. Those that don’t want formal education, they should create an informal education for them.If government is doing what it is supposed to do, the crime rate will drastically reduce. We have a lot of graduates that are employable, but there are no jobs.”
Mathematician
Kari comments on the young kidnapper referred to earlier who holds a BSc mathematics degree “You can even see a contradiction in our system. We are supposed to be looking for mathematicians. Maths is a difficult discipline and it is a foundational discipline. So many other disciplines depend on mathematics. In fact, the entire physical and natural sciences depend on mathematics.Ordinarily, if you read mathematics, you are supposed to have a job.This doesn’t make sense.”
He opens up on the educational system “If the system had been fair to that man, if the system had recognised and appreciated his importance, he would not have ended up in crime.But because the system is run in a confused manner, that is why this sort of thing happens.” On the place of mathematics in Nigeria today, he reasons “You can do a lot of things with mathematics. In our secondary schools, for instance, even if a person graduates with third class or pass, he can be a teacher. The foundation of the entire physical and natural sciences, including medicine and engineering,is mathematics. But our secondary schools don’t have enough maths teachers, and we cannot say the young kidnapper in the forest with a degree in maths, was not willing to work.”
Concluded