THERE is trouble in the land. Gun-toting kidnappers are running riot across the country without respect for rank or calling. Recently, on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Abia State, they stunned the country by abducting the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Samuel Kanu-Uche, and two other priests, dragging the clerics in their hallowed cassocks into the thick forest.
The kidnappers are a wide assortment of ruthless criminals ranging from Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists and their offshoots, their allies, the bandit/terrorists, Fulani herders/militants across the North, “unknown gunmen” in the South-East, criminal gangs in the South-West and South-South, and individuals, including and copycats attracted by the rich takings and capitalising on ineffective law enforcement.
Unlike previous allegations of collusion, however, the Nigerian Army should not wave this one away. Complaints by victims, communities and various groups of such collusion are too frequent to be dismissed. Many other persons, high and low, have levelled similar accusations that kidnappers operate unhindered within the vicinity of deployed troops.
The prelate insisted that his abductors were “Fulani boys,” who claimed that the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari , “disappointed” them. This is another often repeated claim by Fulani bandits, militants and terrorists across the country. The regime and the Northern elite should tell Nigerians the agreement, if any, they made with these bandits that gives them a gigantic sense of entitlement, including unleashing terror on innocent Nigerians.
Truth is already out there as to who are doing all the killings and kidnappings across Nigeria. How the climax or anti-climax will play out is what we wait to see.