Exactly a week ago, I was in Warri Branch where I was warmly received by the leaders and members of the Branch. It was therefore heartbreaking for me to read that three members of the Branch and their driver were kidnapped during week along Benin-Auchi Road.
However, I feel very happy and relieved to hear that our colleagues have eventually regained their freedom.
Sadly, this latest kidnap is a pointer to the sorry state of the security in our country. Insecurity is now the order of day and indeed the bane of our Nation. There is no where that is safe anymore across the country. Bandits have been on unchecked rampage in the Northwest and North Central especially, and have now extended their operations to the South, unknown gunmen hold sway in the East, while kidnappers and ritual killers are the new menace presently being grappled with in the Southwest.
It is criminally irresponsible for any political leader or security chief to underplay or treat mildly the dangerously degenerating insecurity in the country. Our value system has totally collapsed. It is more dangerous and disheartening that most public commentators often find it normal to provide justification for the resort to criminality by the youths in recent time.
My view is that insecurity in our country has gotten to an alarming proportion that we must all rise up against all forms of criminality. We must hold our political actors responsible for their inimical acts and rogue tendencies. Our security apparatus must be effectively scrutinized and any perceived act of ineptitude or misconduct exposed no matter the rank of the officer(s) involved.
We must avoid sentiments and rationalisations when discussing the ugly trend of insecurity and call criminals the name they bear. Public display of wealth, sometimes ill-gotten wealth in the social space, especially on social media, night clubs and social functions are incitements to resort to crimes and criminality. On the 30th of March, 2021, I caused to be published my thoughts on the state of insecurity in our country, especially as it affected our profession and it’s members, it was titled ‘Nigerian Legal Practitioners As Endangered Species – Lamentations of A Concerned Bar Man’, about a year after that publication, lawyers are still being kidnapped, harrased and murdered at will.
We are unfortunately threading a path of uncontrolled state of total anarchy. It is only a deliberate act and honest resolve by all concerned to tackle the insecurity that could stem the dangerous tide.
Again, I congratulate our colleagues on their freedom from the kidnappers as I pray for the release of others still in kidnappers’ captivity across the country.
